Il8 A DAY ON THE LEA 



most thoroughly, and really I did not fare so 

 badly after all. I had some luck, and I know 

 that I deserved better. I had some psycho- 

 logical moments of supreme satisfaction, for I 

 had hold of several fine trout, and of one monster. 

 I placed my fly very daintily just above him in 

 a most difficult place. He came at me with a 

 dash, and was off like a young motor-car. We 

 hugged each other for a long time, and there were 

 moments when I made sure of him, and in those 

 few moments there passed through my excited 

 brain the whole process of hooking him, landing 

 him, cooking him, or showing him triumphantly 

 to my friends. I had not quite decided in my 

 own mind whether we should cook and eat him 

 or send him to be set up, and then present him 

 to the Fly Fishers' Club as a sample of the 

 A. A.'s prowess. He was all but in my net, 

 when it occurred to him how foolish it would 

 look to be stuck up in that fashion. He made 

 another dash for life and liberty, and my hook 

 came away from his lips. He was not far short 

 of three pounds. Sorry for the F. F. Club ! 



He was not the only trout that day that raised 

 my hopes to the skies and then dashed them 

 down to the depths; but do not suppose my 



