THE WHITE HORSE 59 



Then we walked down to the river, and 

 caught a glimpse of the beautiful Colne, and 

 we coveted it a wide-flowing stream with 

 abundance of weeds kept down below the sur- 

 face of the water, so that you could cast any- 

 where without let or hindrance. We had a 

 short chat with Mr. Burge, the fishing-tackle 

 maker, and gathered from him that there had 

 been a fair May Fly season. The landlord of 

 the Bull Hotel, a fine rambling old inn, holds, 

 I think, about three miles of the river, so of 

 course the hotel is the home of many a happy 

 angler during the angling season. 



I received a very cordial invitation for a day's 

 fishing on the Colne at Bibury, but, unfor- 

 tunately, I could not avail myself of it. I 

 heard of grand doings on this river, and would 

 gladly have tried it if I could have done so. 



Our own stream is, as I have hinted, not a 

 hundred miles away from Fairford let those 

 identify it who can. Generally, I may say that 

 it is much smaller than the Colne and is a 

 tributary of it. There are plenty of trout in it, 

 and big ones, too, but they are not easy to 

 catch. The Professor, who is as good a hand 

 as one here and there, and I, who am but 



