CHAPTER XIV. 



THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF WANDLE-WEIR AND 

 HERL-BROKE. 



I TAKE it for granted, gentlemen (commenced Mr 

 Wandle-weir, as spokesman on the occasion), that 

 you are already made acquainted with the result of 

 our rod-operations up to the end of July last. My 

 friend Herl-broke, if I remember rightly, addressed 

 a communication to your honourable club, under 

 the intention of regaling his brother members with 

 a spice of our doings and sufferings OB certain 

 angling stations, north of the Tay. Our chief 

 matters of complaint, should you recollect, were 

 the dryness of the season, want of winds, and the 

 incessant torment we met with from hordes of gad- 

 flies, which haunted our steps with provoking per- 

 tinacity along the water's-edge. From a combination 

 of maladies so unlocked for, it was natural for us 

 to determine our escape. Measures accordingly 

 were taken for a retreat homewards, and our 

 journey had actually commenced, when down pops 



