CHAPTER V 



The Angling Excuse 



A CYNIC has remarked that there is some- 

 thing in the misfortunes of our friends not 

 altogether distasteful to us ; I shall not deny, 

 for my part, that I have known a feeling the 

 reverse of disagreeable when that no doubt 

 very well-meaning fellow, but all the same 

 intensely self-confident angler, Swellcast, has 

 returned to our angling inn with an ab- 

 solutely empty creel. There are some men 

 you never feel the least resentment towards, 

 though day after day they return with heavy 

 creel, while you yourself cannot get hold of 

 a single sizable fish, flog you every inch of 

 water never so long and so carefully. Who 

 can, for instance, begrudge the truly modest 

 angler his good luck, when he is always ready 



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