OF MAcARTHUR 97 



The trout, paralysed with astonishment, followed 

 obediently, wriggled itself bodily over the weeds 

 and through the rushes, swung hi the deep safe 

 water for a second, and made off up stream 

 like lightning. But he was well hooked, and 

 there was never any cause for alarm. MacArthur 

 reeled him in, let him run, reeled him in again, 

 and after the usual fuss and bungling with the 

 net, I got him to land 2J Ib. MacArthur 

 was dumb with delight. When I had recovered 

 the power of speech, I said, " You now see how 

 easy dry-fly fishing really is. Any man who can 

 cast as you do may fish a chalk-stream with every 

 prospect of success." I advised him to go up the 

 river and practise on his own account. " All you 

 have to do," I said, "is to avoid drag and pull 

 in your slack, and forget that you ever thought 

 there was anything difficult about this game." 



The really remarkable feature of this story 

 is that at the end of the day MacArthur admitted 

 that the capture of his first trout was a fluke, 

 whereas it was not. It was the masterly cast 

 that did it. MacArthur, though he had never 

 fished a chalk-stream, knew more about casting 

 than nine dry-fly anglers out of ten that you will 

 meet in conversation. But, though he brought 

 back two other fishes, he had acquired a respect 

 a quite proper respect for the many which he 



