XIII 

 A FISHERMAN'S FALL 



I TAKE it that between all true sportsmen 

 and their quarry there is a certain un- 

 written contract between pursuer and pursued. 

 The fox-hunter does not go forth to slay foxes 

 with lethal weapons, but to watch hounds 

 hunting and to keep with them if he can. The 

 game-shot does not stalk his birds and shoot 

 them sitting. The stalker does not use a Lewis 

 gun to pump lead into a stag at short range. 

 So, between a dry-fly man and a trout there 

 is an understanding on both sides. The trout 

 may flee to cover if he sees man, rod or line ; 

 he must be shown only the fly and a link or 

 two of finest gut. Not only that, but the fly 

 must float cheerily and independently, as if 

 alive, and there must be no sign of its being 

 dragged by the floating line in any direction 

 out of the natural course followed by the living 

 insects poised on the little eddies and swirls 

 on a chalk-stream's surface. Whether the arti- 



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