IN ARCADIA. 13 



clothed thickly with hazel, willow, alder and other underwood, 

 harbouring a multitude of birds of varied plumage, whose refuge 

 was rarely disturbed excepting by an odd angler or two, sundry 

 farmhands, or the old, bent shepherd, with his crook and his 

 faithful dog. 



The neighbourhood was replete with survivals and memorials 

 of the past ; the sound of the curfew was borne on the breeze from 

 a village over the hills. And, amid the pine woods through which 

 the brook purled in its higher reaches, was a spot known locally 

 as " The Traitor's Ford " where, during the Civil War, it is sup- 

 posed many treasonable persons met their doom. 



The brawling but tiny mill-stream was inhabited by the 

 plumpest trout that ever ravished an angler's eyes. Those fish 

 were truly epicures, for the water held an unfailing supply of their 

 natural food. Upon the table they made a dainty dish, the 

 richness of their flavour being flattered by mine hostess's excellent 

 cooking. 



It was brook-trouting pure and simple. The water, secreted 

 in an ambushment of shrubs, was difficult to approach, and conse- 

 quently more difficult to fish. But its wealth of cover afforded 

 some consolation, in that it formed a natural avairy to which many 

 rare as well as familiar birds resorted. In several spots, however, 

 the water was more accessible, and in others there was merely a 

 regular line of withies along the margin of the brook. And the 

 mill-pond was sufficiently open to allow of fly-fishing. 



In the little stream were to be found, on a small scale, many 

 types of water, emblems of many moods. Restfulness and jollity 

 were represented in its pools and shallows, waywardness and petu- 

 lance in its cascades and its rapids that delved the bush-hung 

 banks, whilst in its slow and silent stretches were portrayed 

 weariness and reserve. 



Although the wasp-grub and the maggot were both successful 

 lures, the trout showed a strong partiality for the worm either 

 the brandling or the tail-end of a lob. My short fly-rod, supple, 

 yet not too whippy, answered admirably for this style of fishing ; 



