LOOSE STRANDS 181 



of his efforts, when the boat, apparently of malice 

 aforethought, gives an unexpected lurch, and his aim 

 is missed. He tries again, with a similar result ; he 

 probably tries a dozen times before his purpose seems 

 about to be achieved. But it is not only between the 

 cup and the lip that slips are frequent ; the gut has, 

 indeed, entered the eye of the hook, but, while its pas- 

 sage is still incomplete, the boat again swings on the 

 wave, and his labour is undone. The delay is irritating 

 to the most patient of men ; a man possessed by the 

 temper of Andrew Lang is " goaded to madness " be- 

 fore his object is attained. But, whatever the time 

 occupied in changing the eyed-fly, it is invariably less 

 than that we waste when dealing with the generally- 

 accepted lure. 



The celerity with which it permits the angler to 

 effect a change of fly is not the sole advantage of the 

 eyed-hook. The weakening of the gut at its junction 

 with the fly is a frequent source of trouble and annoy- 

 ance to the fisherman, but with the eyed-fly, accident is 

 easily foreseen and obviated ; if there is any reason to 

 suspect the soundness of the gut to which it is attached, 

 it can be removed instantly and at trifling cost. When 

 the gut on which it is dressed has parted, there is a 

 period to the usefulness of the ordinary fly ; the eyed- 



