128 THE TROUT ARE RISING 
judicial tone. You already begin to feel you 
will be taken forth from that place to be hanged 
by the neck until there is no more question of 
licence or anything else. 
Then the worthy man, expounding in words 
with which he has long been familiar, goes on: 
“This here river comes within the jurisdiction of 
the Board of Conservators, and before you 
can fish in this here river you must take out a 
licence to fish in it.” Now, if you are a wise 
man, you will already have taken out the 
necessary licence, and done all things lawful. If 
you have by ignorance, or whatsoever the reason, 
omitted so to do you will, without waste of 
words, ask his worship if he has a book of licences 
on him, and if so will he of his kindness sell you 
one on the spot? As you scan him hopefully, 
you will notice that maybe he has grown grey in 
the service, that he wears hand-sewn boots, with 
smart leggings, not to speak of a jay’s feather in 
his hat, token of an intimacy with outdoor 
life. Seeing what kind of man he is, it can do 
no harm to add that you are sorry for the trouble 
you have caused him, and would he kindly 
convey personally to the Chairman of his Board 
of Conservators an expression of your regret that 
you have unwittingly offended. Sometimes a 
water-bailiff, for convenience in remote rural 
districts, is empowered to sell the fishing licence. 
Clearly, it ought always to be taken out before 
you fish, But if by mis-chance this has not been 
done, and if the water-bailiff is empowered to sell 
