OF MAcARTHUR 95 



thing could not have been better done. I said, 

 " There ! " 



MacArthur was breathing heavily through his 

 nose, and his eyes were shining with delight and 

 excitement and triumph. He had seen the luring 

 and slaughter of a chalk-stream trout a trout of 

 If lb., a trout twice as big as the biggest he had 

 ever looked on. He said that it was magnificent, 

 and launched into praises of my skill. I pre- 

 served a modest demeanour, and told him that 

 now he must get one. He despaired of ever 

 attaining to my accuracy and deadliness. 



Seeing a fish rise about three hundred yards 

 up stream (he has an eye like a telescope), he 

 besought me to come and catch that one too, 

 as he had hardly had time to observe my methods. 

 He said it was a privilege to watch me. I did 

 not say what I would do until we reached the 

 rising fish, when I told MacArthur that he must 

 have a go at it. I pointed out that he had not 

 taken a rod on this river to watch me catching 

 fish, but to learn to do it himself. I insisted on 

 his trying for this fish. 



The place in which it lay was situated twenty 

 yards across the stream, under the overhanging 

 branch of a willow, and on the far side of a thin 

 line of rushes and weeds. The rushes and the 

 branch were so disposed that the only possible 



