184 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



the moonlight on the sandy beach ; many 

 escaped in the scramble and confusion of the 

 picnickers ; we were mostly amateurs at the 

 job. Clothes were then spread to dry by the 

 camp fires where volunteer cooks had been 

 making hot cocoa ; beer from the wardroom 

 store went round, and we finished the evening 

 with a sing-song. A hard-bitten old ordinary 

 seaman, with no ambition, and a tendency to 

 insobriety on occasions which would have sorely 

 interfered with his career, if he had aspired to 

 one, took virtual command of the party as 

 the best singer. We packed up at last, pulled 

 off to the ship, all hands taking a turn at the 

 oars, and, when the falls had been hooked on, 

 all "ranks and ratings" manned them to hoist 

 the boats. So ended a lovely holiday by an 

 Albanian trout-stream. We had another trout- 

 fishing or rather trout-hunting, experience there. 

 The Admiral gave a party for all fly-fishers in 

 his yacht, the Helicon, to which about fifty 

 of us were invited. We landed at Avlona town 

 to explore another, much bigger, river shown 

 on the chart. The nearest bend of it was about 

 six or seven miles inland along a glaring white, 

 dusty road. Some few hired horses, some walked, 

 myself among them. The river looked perfect, 

 excepting in colour, which was slightly tinged 



