150 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



at this stage in the story. I could only see 

 about four inches of his tail, and the most 

 experienced cannot estimate the weight of a 

 fish from a vertical view of his tail, whatever 

 may be guessed from a side view thereof. He 

 was clearly a big trout : let us leave it at that. 

 Now let us reconnoitre the position from above. 

 You can do that with me, if you have made 

 friends, as I have, with the mill family by 

 saying how much you enjoy watching the children 

 bathing in the little pool below the footbridge, 

 especially when the evening rise is on, on a 

 hot summer's evening. Not so difficult a thing 

 to say during this past season, when I can 

 remember no such summer's evening. 



Just above the footbridge you pass, by a 

 small door, into the dark mill chamber. You 

 hear the water gurgling under the floor, as 

 you cross it, and a little shaft of light comes 

 through a sort of window above the hatch beside 

 the mill-wheel. You can open a door on the 

 hatch side of the room and look through it up 

 a grassy path leading through the copse beside 

 the mill-pool, making a lovely little picture 

 in the sunshine, as seen from the darkened room. 

 But to business : we are after that trout. When 

 the hatch is open the whole river, from a glassy 

 slide of clear water, so clear that you can imagine 



