98 THE TROUT ARE RISING 
want you to bring me out a fly-rod. I want a 
rod something like you used to fish with on the 
Mooi, only I want one with a steel centre, and 
about 10 ft. long. I don’t mind paying up to 
£10. J would not mind a good second-hand rod 
if you happen to know of one. I shall leave it 
entirely to yourjudgment. . . . I cannot buy arod 
here ; all the stores seem to have run out of rods.” 
Well, this wonderful place, this “centre of intelli- 
gence,” as London has been called, will be able 
to supply a rod, and pleased I am to act on your 
behalf, old friend. You go on to say: (pleasant 
reading for an amateur from an old piscatorial 
pupil): “I have done quite a lot of fishing during 
the last two years. I go to the Loteni River. 
The fishing there is better than the Mooi. I 
shall take you there if you come to Natal for 
some fishing.” That’s just like you, John! 
Thank you, You proceed in your letter: “I 
have been quite envious of your fishing in 
Scotland ; it’s one of the places I want to go to.” 
That is only natural, for your grandparents came 
from there to Natal in the early days and your 
great uncle, a Scotsman, was a distinguished pro- 
tessor, who edited a dictionary. 
To return to the Teme valley and the novice 
from Deptford. Here was a man born and bred 
in a foggy spot, where streets, houses, and 
chimneys are the surroundings, Possessing 
what proved sheer natural aptitude, he had for 
weeks previously paved the way for an angling 
holiday by devouring every scrap of angling 
