ii THE INVIOLABLE SHADE 23 



The trout were being shouldered out of the 

 stream by their rivals, and it was incumbent 

 on every honest man who had the good of 

 the water at heart to do what in him lay to 

 keep the stock of grayling within limits. 



At last, after a little mental arithmetic 

 (five brace a day for a week come to the 

 considerable total of seventy fish, the weight 

 being, of course, 140 lb.), I allowed my- 

 self to be convinced, and said that I would 

 go and catch these fish. Could not the 

 expert come too ? But no, the expert was 

 obliged to keep down the stock of grayling 

 in another river, and therefore he feared he 

 could not manage it. 



It has since occurred to me that he did 

 not reveal the whole of the matter. I have 

 noticed that his fine catches of grayling 

 always come from some other river, and I 

 have a suspicion that he knows more of the 

 inviolable shade than appeared from his con- 

 versation. But at the time I was quite satisfied 

 with the results of the mental arithmetic, 

 and after laying in a large stock of the 

 numerous " fancies " and " terrors," whose 

 varied brilliancy is warranted to kill gray- 

 ling in any water or weather, I started for 



