96 AN ANGLER AT LARGE 



chance of getting a fly to the fish was to shoot 

 it out of a gun through a gap some ten inches 

 wide. I said, "This is not a particularly easy 

 cast. But, remember, if you hook him you must 

 bustle him. Though you break, you mustn't give 

 him his head. This is your only chance. 

 Recollect what I told you about raising your 

 rod high in the air and walking backwards into 

 the meadow? This is an occasion when you 

 must do that." 



MacArthur asked me if it was possible to cock 

 a fly properly at that distance. This seemed 

 to be the only doubt that troubled him. I told 

 him (because he had on a dry, well-oiled and well- 

 made fly, which would cock itself quite inde- 

 pendently of the person who threw it) that 

 it was quite possible. 



" For you, perhaps," said MacArthur, and as he 

 began to get out line I could feel the blushes 

 chasing each other up and down my body. The 

 next moment MacArthur's fly passed through 

 the gap which I have described and lit, cocked 

 to a miracle, in the only square inch of water 

 where it could have served any useful purpose 

 whatever. The trout hurled itself on to the hook. 

 MacArthur struck, raised his rod high in the 

 air, and began to walk backwards steadily into 

 the meadow, just as I had told him to do. 



