176 JUNE 



ing, in fact, was out of the question; we had 

 endured our toil for nothing; there was nothing 

 for it but to make our way back whence we had 

 come. 



We were gazing dejectedly at the dreary little 

 hole, when suddenly, hopelessly out of reach, there 

 came a spanking rise, followed shortly by another. 

 There were good fish, then, in this unpromising 

 abode, though they might as well have been in 

 Kamschatka for all the use they were to us. There- 

 upon befell a strange thing. It was the Devil himself 

 that put a simultaneous thought in both our minds. 

 Our eyes met and sank guiltily. 



' Eh r gasped my friend, with a wretched attempt 

 at a smile. 



I nodded, with a still more abortive manifestation 

 of mirth. 



We looked behind us and all around. There was 

 no sign of human presence or habitation, not even a 

 bird to carry the tale of the dreadful deed that was 

 in our minds. Without a word spoken, we sat down 

 on the heather and unbuckled our flybooks right 

 away. Five strong casting lines we chose and 

 knotted together, end to end twenty good flies we 

 appended to them at due intervals ; and then, with 



