OF THE BEGINNING OF THINGS 3 



mer^ and^ honestly, I don't think I made more 

 mistakes than usual ; but three o'clock arrived, 

 and my creel was still '' clean," when I came to a 

 bend from which ran, through a hatch, a small 

 current of water which fed a carrier. Against the 

 grating which protected the hatch-hole was gener- 

 ally a large pile of weed, and to-day was no 

 exception. Against it collected a film of scum, 

 alive with black gnats, and among them I saw a 

 single dark olive dun lying spent. I had seen no 

 others of his kind, but I knotted on a Dark Olive 

 Quill on a single cipher hook, and laid siege to a 

 trout which was smutting steadily in the next 

 little bay. The fly was a shop-tied one, beautiful 

 to look at when new, but as a floater it was no 

 success. The hackle was a hen's, and the dye only 

 accentuated its natural inclination to sop up water. 

 The oil tip had not yet arrived, and so it came 

 about that, after the wetting it got in the first 

 recovery, it no sooner lit on the water on the 

 second cast than it went under. A moment later 

 I became aware of a sort of crinkling little swirl in 

 the water, ascending from the place where I con- 

 ceived my fly might be. I was somewhat too 

 quick in putting matters to the proof, and when 

 my line came back to me there was no fly. I 

 mounted another, and assailed the next fish, and 

 to my delight exactly the same thing occurred, 

 except that this time I did not strike too hard. 

 The trout's belly contained a solid ball of black 



I — 2 



