TIPS. 95 



the worse for the interview. 



" Thought so, llie rascal took me on tlic surface and (hdn't turn 



to flgilt." 



I5ul wliat a fine example this affords of the effect of a special fly! 

 What an excellent lesson to those too prone to give way to the puerile 

 iflea that only three or four flies are all one wants! " Louise," specially 

 adorned, is one of the best patterns for these places. 



This was not the only lesson afforded at the pool by any means, 

 yet very forcibl}' has the scene so far illustrated a change of policy it 

 were folly to ignore. It practically amounts to this : That while the 

 average performer fishes his every-day fly in the usual manner, some 

 distance in front of a salmon lying in ordinary catches, the master 

 hand, alive to the fact that at " hedgehogs " he has to present his lure 

 straight as an arrow and close over the nose of the fish for it to be 

 seen and recognised at all, selects a certain pattern characterised 

 by those specific elements that have many times been the backbone 

 of his former triumphs. And this we need not hesitate to accept as 

 a fair example of modern diplomacy and progress. 



Charles, disappointed and using the truest drawing-room 

 language, sneaked to the bothy unseen and prepared the table for the 

 mid-day meal. " Come on in, gentlemen," he soon called out, " you'll 

 have a good few minutes to yourselves now, as the threatening storm- 

 clouds above mean real business this time. Lunch is ready for you, 

 and besides, his lordship is heading this way to talk, talk, talk." 



The usual complimentary observations over, including a few 

 words extolling the tactics the fisherman had pursued, the proprietor 

 asked him to fully explain the peculiarities of the Slack, and by what 

 method it should be fished, excusing himself on the ground that so 



