96 In Pursuit of the Trout 



up stream quite contentedly — as who would 

 not on such a day ? — and almost reached the 

 mill, beyond which my card of permission 

 did not entitle me to go, before discovering 

 a rising fish. At a bend in the stream 

 almost forming a right angle a fish was busy 

 well under the bank and in perilous proximity 

 to a thorn-bush laden down to the water's 

 brink with its great white clusters. After 

 a few attempts I managed to get my fly 

 floating and nicely cocked over the dimpling 

 one. He bolted up and then down stream, 

 and as a last resource dived into a patch of 

 emerald-green weeds. But it was all of no 

 avail ; for he presently came to creel, a 

 short, thick-set fish, just turning the scale 

 at a pound. 



And that, be it admitted, was the one 

 sizable trout landed during the entire day. 

 Three and four brace have been fairly com- 

 mon bags with me on this dainty stream ; 

 and in may-fly season, which occurs, as a 

 rule, during the last few days of the month, 

 much bigger baskets are, I believe, occa- 



