68 In Pursuit of the Trout 



and I had long entertained a suspicion that 

 there must be a very monster lurking some- 

 where in this hole. 



One still evening this suspicion grew so 

 strong and masterful that I left a rising fish 

 to come down and land on the island. I 

 crept through the docks, and peered cautiously 

 into the sullen pool. A grand trout was 

 swimming round and round the backwater, 

 sucking in olives with a loud smacking sound. 

 For a few seconds my heart seemed to have 

 stopped beating. I would not have raised a 

 finger or made a false movement for a five- 

 pound note. When sufficiently recovered 

 from this sudden shock, I sank down gently 

 in the herbage — faded away, in fact, from the 

 water's edge as a crafty old pike fades from 

 sight among the weeds. Then I listened to 

 learn whether or no I had scared the trout. 

 No ; the smacking sound still continued. I 

 instantly cut down the gut cast to about 

 eighteen inches in length, and attached 

 thereto a new light olive dun. Then, on 

 hands and knees, I once more approached the 



