72 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



along his body, fearing every moment that the 

 wire may touch the tip of a fin and send him 

 shooting off. Then I give a sudden rapid side- 

 ways pull on the pole, feel his struggling weight 

 in the noose, and haul him hand over hand 

 quickly to the side and up the bank amongst 

 the dock-leaves, falling backwards myself into 

 a bed of nettles the wire having parted from 

 the tip of the pole just as I got him well on to 

 the bank ! I must have left a kink in it. 



I have never known such poisonous nettles 

 as we grow in these parts. It is a merciful 

 decree of nature that causes dock-leaves to grow 

 so near to them ! 



