THE ARM OF THE LAW 133 
“ Oh, yes, sir, I am sure that’s all right,” replied 
he. But all the same I saw him looking up the 
books. It is a sound motto for bank clerks, 
water-bailiffs, or anybody in a position of trust or 
responsibility, to take nothing for granted. 
The first water-bailiff I struck—that seems 
an unfortunate word now | see it set down! 
but it is only the colonial word for “ met”—was 
early on in Cornwall. The usual greetings took 
place, with the same “ pleased-to-meet-you ” kind 
of conversation, followed in this instance by a 
speedy piunge into the subject of licences, That 
proved all right. And then, as generally happens 
with a fisherman new to the district, there was 
a series of questions which elicited sound in- 
struction as to the right size and kind of fly, 
the best spots, and so on, It necessarily takes 
a stranger days or weeks, you may even say 
years, to understand a river’s full fishing values, 
and the help which a thoughtful water-bailiff can 
give is very considerable. 
Another interesting meeting was with the 
head water-keeper on a big estate, where a day’s 
fishing had been kindly given me. He was an 
interesting man, from whom much could be 
learned. He understood most matters, I should 
imagine, connected with trout, and he had that 
good Scots’ accent which from boyhood has always 
made such an appeal to me. It was early in the 
year, and when he came along I already had 
several trout. Feeling a bit tired, I asked him 
to take a hand and try myrod. It is a good rod, 
