1 68 AN ANGLER'S HOURS x 



proof. A sack, two sacks for there were 

 two anglers were put into the waggonette 

 with the tackle and lunch, and the river 

 was reached before 10 A.M. had struck by 

 the church clock on the hill. 



It was not a promising day ; summer, 

 after two months of hopeless severity, 

 appeared to be endeavouring to surpass 

 itself, and leaden masses of cloud swept 

 across the sky at the bidding of a rushing, 

 mighty wind. But the river, seen from 

 the high stone bridge on which we were 

 standing, looked as attractive as the keenest 

 seeker after free fishing could desire. 



Above the bridge was a broad gravel 

 shallow on which were doubtless the dace 

 of which the local authority had spoken, 

 and, it might be, a trout or so as well. In 

 the distance the mill could be seen through 

 some trees, and a point above the shallow 

 where two streams met suggested a back- 

 water as well as the mill-stream, and pre- 

 sumably a weir-pool. Below the bridge 

 the river curved away among trees in a 

 tempting succession of stream and pool. 

 The problem, inevitable on a new and 

 unknown water, arose, what was to be 



