JUNE 151 



general understanding had looked hope- 

 less had turned out to be one of the 

 best of days, and that which promised 

 to be the day of the season was distinctly 

 poor. 



One afternoon, while casting flies on a 

 sluggish stretch of a trout stream, I 

 noticed a man about a hundred yards off 

 on the other side of the water. His 

 head and shoulders, that is to say, were 

 visible ; the rest of him was screened by 

 a thick fringe of reeds, over which a 

 fishing-rod protruded. Suddenly the tip 

 of the rod was sharply tilted ; a trout was 

 jerked out of the stream, and went hurt- 

 ling through the sunshine to the meadow 

 behind. Soon head and shoulders and 

 the rod appeared again, and instantly 

 another fish fluttered to the grass in a 

 gleaming curve. The angler coming 

 slowly downstream, this was repeated, 

 repeated, repeated. Never had I wit- 

 nessed such a strange performance. So 



