140 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



panics the playing of a large and vigorous fish on gut 

 as light as gossamer, there is an element of fear that 

 our quarry may escape us. Without the anxiety which 

 haunts us from the moment we have hooked a trout 

 until we have placed it safely in the basket or on board 

 the boat, angling would be deprived of much of its 

 charm. There is no satisfaction in a victory gained by 

 mere superiority of strength ; when the result is a fore- 

 gone conclusion it ceases to interest us. Were the 

 angler's purpose solely the acquisition of fish, he would 

 accomplish it much more speedily and much more surely 

 by the employment of a net. 



In the boy, the dread of losing the object of his 

 desire is the predominating emotion, and he gives the 

 fish no law. He is unhappy until it is within his pos- 

 session, and hastens the moment which sees it palpi- 

 tating at his feet. He fishes with the heaviest and 

 stoutest gut he can procure. He has no thought of art 

 for art's sake ; he longs for material results, and the 

 more expeditiously they can be attained the better 

 pleased he is. With experience, however, he ceases 

 to value the trout as an article of property ; it becomes 

 an object on which he may exercise his skill, and in the 

 knowledge that his success in bringing it to the net is 

 due less to the strength of his tackle than to the dex- 



