ix FESTIVAL OF GREEN DRAKE 165 



well, three nice trout and seven fine dace 

 are a good enough basket for any reasonable 

 person, and we shall envy no man's sport 

 this day unless, of course, he happens to 

 have caught a trout weighing more than 

 three pounds seven ounces. Now our pipes 

 are lighted, if you will come with me I will 

 show you a thing. We must go to the top 

 of the meadow to yon clump of willows. 

 Here you see a floodgate through which a 

 narrow stream flows out of the river into 

 the meadows, making music in the deepen- 

 ing twilight. We cross over the gate and 

 follow the little stream for a few yards 

 until it divides, one branch continuing on its 

 course, the other turning sharp to the left and 

 running through an underground channel 

 into a little round pool hardly more than two 

 yards in diameter and eighteen inches deep ; 

 hence the stream flows softly along under 

 the hedge until it joins the brook we have 

 visited already. Tiny as this pool is, I 

 know there is a large trout in it. It was 

 thought better to await the dark before 

 attacking him, because the water is crystal 

 clear and there is no cover. A spent gnat 

 was put on while we were sitting on the 



