114 



A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



but the sight fails to stimulate his interest ; it comes too 

 late. He knows that the threatening rain will be slow 

 to fall, and that long before it reaches earth he will be 

 back at his desk, or behind his counter, or where else 



his business takes him, his 

 scanty holiday unprofitably 

 spent, and his tackle laid 

 carefully away until the re- 

 turn of another year gives 

 him an opportunity of bring- 

 ing it out again and, he 

 hopes, of effacing the mem- 

 ory of his disappointment. 

 The angler has no assurance of success on the loch, 

 but he is less likely to leave it entirely disappointed. 

 It is certain to yield him some degree of satisfaction. 

 His basket may not be always full, but it will seldom be 

 quite empty. The conditions of his sport are less com- 

 plex ; neither the height nor the colour of the water 

 need concern him much, and with rain he will cheer- 

 fully dispense. Bright sunshine he will probably find 

 conducive to his pleasure, but if he is favoured with 

 sufficient wind to fret the surface of the water, he can 

 demand nothing further of the weather. Wind, how- 

 ever, is the one thing essential to his success ; without 



