io8 AN ANGLER'S HOURS vn 



probably from interested motives, for have I 

 not on sundry occasions given the old villain 

 the wherewithal to buy beer ? Even Old 

 Billy recognises the unwisdom of particular 

 charges of inefficiency against the person 

 who, for the time being, represents a day's 

 wage of unknown quantity. 



However, I am not prepared to quarrel 

 with his assertion, partly because I have 

 never been able of set purpose to catch carp 

 anywhere, and partly because I am not quite 

 convinced that these particular carp have 

 existence other than theoretical. Twice 

 have I been within measurable distance of 

 belief once when fishing for bream with a 

 bunch of the larvas of bluebottles (politely 

 known as gentles, impolitely known as mag- 

 gots), and I hooked something irresistible 

 which ran out all the line and destroyed it 

 at leisure in the depths ; once again, when 

 a stout new salmon-cast parted like cotton 

 on the strike. But these events are of the 

 now distant past, and time has induced wiser 

 incredulity ; probably in both cases I hooked 

 a pike, a circumstance that often precedes 

 angling misfortune. 



On this sharp winter morning it is some- 



