AVOID CHEAP HOOKS 343 



well enough, for that matter ; and why should I pay or 



two shillings and sixpence a dozen when I can get the same 

 flies of Snooks for one shilling and sixpence ? " 



" Well, we shall see how they stand. I, for my sins, once, in a 

 hurry, bought a dozen black gnats of him, and whipped them 

 all to pieces in one morning for less than as many fish. I have 

 never^boughfa fly there since." 



" Ah, that's just like you ; you always run Snooks down." 



" Not I. I care nothing about him personally ; I speak 

 as I find. But, if the hooks and gut be good, and the flies 

 be well tied, they cannot be had for the money, so as to leave 

 the tackle maker who sells them a fair profit." 



" Well, we shall see." 



Three or four days after I walked into my friend's house. 

 He was out. I went into his sanctum, where his rod hung 

 always ready for action. On one of the nails below it hung a 

 collar of gut, and the fly showed that it had been used but an 

 hour or so before. I recognised the fly as one of the dozen my 

 friend had bought at Snooks's, and, taking it in my hand, I 

 found the point and barb entirely gone, the hook having 

 broken at the bend. Just as I made the discovery my friend 

 entered. I turned to him with the fly in my hand, and, holding 

 it out, I uttered but one word, and that word was " Snooks." 

 My friend was a little irate and a little confused. He had had 

 hold of a good fish in the mill-tail, a three-pounder : the fish 

 gave a jump, and, somehow, there was too much of a strain, or 

 something ; but the hook broke, and the fish, of course, was 

 " spoilt " for a month to come. It was a fine morning for 

 fishing, so, taking town his rod, we strolled together down the 

 stream. He rigged up another " Snooks " in the meantime, 

 and, coming to a good cast under some trees, he rose and 

 hooked a handsome two-pounder. The fish gave one flounder 

 on the top, and he was away. We looked for the cause, and, 

 lo ! the hook was the counterpart of the one I had seen hanging 

 on the nail ; the barb and point were gone at the bend. 



" Snooks ! " again quoth I, emphatically. 



" Oh ! be hanged with your ' Snooks ' ; as if nobody else's 

 hooks ever broke. I held him too hard." 



' Too hard for Snooks," said I. 



Sulkily enough he mounted another of the infallibles, as we 

 walked up towards the mill-tail, where all was fair open fishing ; 

 no boughs, no stones, no roots, nothing but water and gravel. 

 Here he rose and hooked a fish of about a pound and a half, 



