THE FLY 57 



he was too polite to put into words. My flies were 

 so-called Spiders, small — Nos. 2 and 3, new scale — 

 and lightly dressed, and the contrast be- 

 tween them and those habitually in use 

 evidently filled him with forebodings of a 

 dull, uninteresting time. He was paid to 

 take me on the water and provide me 

 with an opportunity of obtaining sport, 

 and he would earn his pay, but, his bear- 

 ing plainly said, if instead of devoting 

 myself to the legitimate purpose of my 

 presence on the loch I was pleased to seek amuse- 

 ment in toying with the dainty little trifles, I need not 

 look to him for even a pretence of sympathy with me 

 in my foolishness. When, however, he realized that 

 neither the Sportsman s Guide nor the traditions of the 

 loch were so entirely trustworthy as he had supposed ; 

 when he found that day after day my basket was regu- 

 larly twice the weight of that of any other angler on the 

 water, he gradually assumed a more cheerful air and 

 showed an increasing desire to provide me with enter- 

 tainment — he became even enthusiastic. Within a week, 

 he made a voluntary confession which revealed a mind 

 still open to new impressions : " I'm peginnin'," he ac- 

 knowledged, "to pelieve in the smaal flies after aal." 

 5 



