OF TWO KEEPERS 37 



the stream up to his knees in water (where I 

 could not follow him) over three good trout 

 which he said he could see. Every now and 

 then he would answer me when I spoke, and 

 sometimes when I coughed he would tell me how 

 he was getting on. But most of the time he was 

 quite unconscious of my presence on the bank, and 

 I am sure that he was very happy. I was wet 

 and cold and hungry by this time, and I left him 

 (he hardly turned his head) and went away to the 

 Inn for tea. On my return he was still at the 

 same place. The food must have given me heart, 

 for I found myself able to claim the rod, and in a 

 very short time William had discovered a trout 

 and I had caught it. The custom was now 

 thoroughly established, that after I had grassed 

 a fish William was to have the rod, and I followed 

 him up the stream till 6.30, when he took me to a 

 stretch of water which we had not yet visited. Here 

 there was no fly, so from that time I had the rod 

 to myself until it was too dark for me to see, when 

 William resumed it, and finished the day with an 

 exhibition of long casting under the far bank, 

 in the course of which the spear of the butt fell 

 into the long grass and was lost to me for ever. 



Joe would have been far too busy mowing to 

 treat me in such a way. Besides, morally and 

 practically he is incapable of it. 



