174 AN ANGLER'S HOURS x 



heartening phenomena of that kind, as it 

 had been doing for some weeks, but was 

 content to indicate " rain." This, my com- 

 panion pointed out, clearly meant a fine day, 

 since no barometer could be expected to 

 recover itself all in a moment from such 

 upheavals as we had been having, and any 

 upward movement at all was a sign of com- 

 plete change ; now therefore was our ex- 

 pected opportunity. The greyness of the 

 sky, he explained, was a sure sign of mid- 

 day heat. 



We started accordingly. During the 

 drive I surveyed the heavens with suspicion, 

 and when we reached the bridge I called 

 his attention to a certain rumbling noise 

 that was going on in the distance. I am 

 always diffident about rumbling noises when 

 I am out fishing ; one has read horrible 

 stories about fire falling from heaven upon 

 the angler, by way of his rod, and consum- 

 ing him. But the indomitable one knows 

 no panics of this kind ; he said it was " guns 

 on Salisbury plain." Those weapons also, 

 in some obscure way, seemed to account for 

 the oppressiveness of the air and the in- 

 dubitable masses of heavy cloud that hung 



