FEBRUARY FILL-DYKE 37 



really good trout water. The river there is 

 netted for pike and other coarse fish, for the 

 sake of the trout. Below the hatch the pike 

 have it all their own way as far as the city, 

 in which for some curious reason the trout 

 flourish again. There are always a few big 

 ones to be seen under each of the three or four 

 bridges, and generally a row of good townsfolk 

 leaning over the parapet to look at them. 

 They remind me of the fisherfolk in a certain 

 village on the Cornish coast. The saying in 

 those parts is that .you can always tell the 

 men of that village because the elbows of their 

 coats are worn out by leaning on them over 

 the low wall of the little breakwater. The 

 wall of the breakwater by the next village is 

 lower, and the men who dwell there can be 

 distinguished by inspecting the seats of their 

 trousers. But we will leave all thoughts of 

 the townsfolk behind us, after buying a hot 

 mutton-pie at a pastry-cook's and wrapping 

 it up in a cloth to take with us, ready for 

 eventualities. A small thermos flask full of 

 hot soup is not a bad thing to have with one, 

 as well, on a February day. It is a grey, cold 

 day, with a cold wind blowing, and there is 

 no sense in not being supplied with creature- 

 comforts, in case, there should be a blank day 



