222 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



the farmer's wrath, I had entered the meadow, waded 



down a drain so as to damage the grass as little as possible, 



crossed a table and walked up another drain till near the 



aforesaid abomination; then snuggled down in the grass 



and crawled on my stomach till I could see the mouth of 



the culvert and a broad tail fanning half in sunlight and 



half in shadow. There was a No. i Landrail and Hare's- 



ear Sedge on my cast, and as, uncomfortably, I drew off 



a little line to get my fly to the spot, the trout dropped 



a couple of feet and took something, and again moved up. 



He did not keep still for many moments together; he kept 



moving up and down and from side to side, and in ten 



minutes may have taken three or four flies. Several times 



I chucked a fly which could have covered him if he had 



stayed where he was when I slung. At last, whether 



owing to the draught up the culvert or some other stroke 



of luck unexplained, I switched the little Sedge right up 



under the culvert farther than I could have conceived it 



possible. Next moment there was a smacking suck and 



my trout was on. Where I lay I was level with the fence, 



and I dared put no pressure on the fish to bring him down, 



for it meant a certain bolt under the fence, probably on 



the far side of the middle stake, and then good-bye, possibly 



a smashed top for my delicate little split cane. So I lay 



still, and keeping a light touch only on my fish, I could 



feel him beating savagely under the arch, but too puzzled 



at what was troubling him to bolt. After some moments 



of this he made a rush into the deep pool on the upstream 



side of the culvert. There I began to fight him. I was 



bound to keep him from getting round the bend. I could 



not let him get to weeds on the left, nor into a rat-hole in 



the northern bank, nor into the lily pads in the backwater 



farther up on the left. So I held him firmly enough to 



keep him fighting, but not for quite a while hard enough 



