THE WHITE HORSE 6 1 



had wind enough in the right quarter to cause 

 some ripple on our too clear water; together 

 we captured about ten brace of really fine trout, 

 many of them over i Ib. or i j lb., and certainly 

 we lost many more than we captured. The 

 weeds were too close together in patches for so 

 small a stream, so that the trout rising and 

 hooked in a narrow rivulet between two beds 

 of weeds were into them like a shot, and once 

 there it was no easy matter to pull them out 

 indeed, oftener than not, after many minutes of 

 tussle, they broke away. One big fellow, for 

 whom I had changed my fly three times, and who 

 promptly took my " Ragged Robin," caused 

 me no end of trouble ; my rod was bent nearly 

 double in keeping him from getting into a bed 

 of flags ; he managed in spite of my efforts to 

 wind himself and my collar round the stem of 

 a flag, and there he swung like a calf tied to a 

 stake. Now, I should like to be told what one 

 of your skilled anglers would have done to get 

 that trout away. The only method I could 

 think of was to try to unwind the collar by 

 slipping it over the top of the reed, but it must 

 be remembered that this bunch of flags was in 

 deepish water near the opposite bank, and the 



