94 AN ANGLER AT LARGE 



to keep his rod's point up and pull in the slack, 

 all of which he managed to do easily. You are 

 to remember always that Mac Arthur was a most 

 accomplished fisherman. Suddenly he found a 

 fish which I had failed to observe. It lay near 

 the bank on which we stood, evidently just posted 

 for breakfast, about fifteen yards above us. The 

 water was clear of rushes and weeds, nor was 

 there any eddy or glide. The bank was free from 

 high grass and trees, and all other nuisances. 

 The wind blew gently up stream. I had a per- 

 fectly clear right-hand horizontal cast. It was 

 what is called a " sitter." As we looked, the fish 

 sucked down a fly. 



" Have at him," said Mac Arthur, as he crouched 

 to the earth. (What he had not read about dry- 

 fly fishing was not worth writing.) " I want to 

 see just how you do it." 



It was inconceivable that I should ever find 

 a more easily-placed trout. I knelt down, as the 

 books recommend, let out line, cast, and the wind 

 the kindly wind of the west dropped a pale 

 olive three inches above the nose of the fish, which 

 took it instantly. I hooked him, rattled him 

 down stream, and had him in the net before the 

 howl which MacArthur uttered as I struck had 

 ceased to reverberate among the surrounding 

 chalk-hills. I do not hesitate to say that the 





