210 AN ANGLER'S HOURS xn 



the first day he fished the river, five years 

 ago, took a house on the banks on the 

 strength of it, and has been there ever 

 since fishing early and late without touching 

 another) and gave it them. In my version 

 he caught two twenty-pound salmon early 

 in the sixties, but the other details were the 

 same. 



Amaryllis was plainly impressed, and 

 began to eye the river doubtfully. Then 

 there was a momentary excitement over a 

 small perch which attached itself to 

 William's lobworm. It excited her con- 

 tempt as being a mere " common " fish, 

 and was returned. A little later we boiled 

 the kettle and had tea, and I told the story 

 of the ardent but unfortunate angler who, 

 since early boyhood, had been wandering 

 from river to river throughout the United 

 Kingdom, fishing day after day, but had never 

 yet caught a salmon, though he once hooked 

 and lost what his gillie said might have 

 been a sea-trout. It was an almost prob- 

 able story, and very convincing. Amaryllis 

 looked at her rod with distaste, and feared she 

 would never really have patience enough for 

 fishing. In fact, all was going well. It was 



