68 AXGLIXG SKETCHES 



like a stage arm}', to give an ap[:ieai'ance of multi- 

 tude. But this appears improbable. \A'hat is 

 certain was our utter inability ever to get a rise 

 from the provoking creatures. The dr}- fl)- is 

 difficult to use on a loch, as there is no stream 

 to move it, and howe\'er gcntl)- }-ou dra\v it it 

 makes a ' ^"^'ake ' — a trail behind it. Wet or dr)-, 

 or ' twixt wet and dry,' like the convivial person in 

 the song, we could none of us raise them. I did 

 catch a small but beautifully proportioned and 

 pink-fleshed trout with the alder, but e\-cr3-thing 

 else, silver sedge and all, e\-er)-thing from midge to 

 May-fl)-, in the late twilight, was offered to them in 

 \'ain. In wind}' or cloud}' u'eather it was just as 

 useless ; indeed, I never saw them rise, except in a 

 warm summer stillness, at and after sunset. Prob- 

 abl}' the}" would have taken a small red worm, 

 pitched into the ripple of a rise ; but we did not try 

 that. After a few e\'enings, the}' seemed to give 

 up rising altogetlier. I don't feel certain that 

 the}' had not been netted : }'et no trout seemed to 

 be on sale in the village. Their presence in the 

 water ma)- perhaps be accounted for thus : they 



