THE TEMPERATURE 63 



gut part of it, which should fall unseen ; 

 at each successive cast the mark became 

 larger ; unless I was mistaken, the line 

 was heavier than it should be. I reeled 

 up, and looked to see what was wrong. 



The cast was like a dainty string of 

 pearls. Apparently it had in some magical 

 manner threaded its way through hundreds 

 of precious stones. There they were ; 

 fixed, smooth-crystal, dimly glistening in 

 the sunbeams ; and set upon the opaque 

 line, from end to end, with a regularity 

 which the deftest craft could not excel. 



They were frozen drops of water. 

 How had they been formed ? or, rather, 

 where ? 



Sorrowfully when the lake is unruffled 

 by a breeze, or the stream is smooth, all 

 of us know that, as has been mentioned, 

 a cast of other than thin gut carries for- 

 ward in its flight a shower ; but had these 

 solid beads of water been formed when the 

 line was in the air ? As they did not melt 

 when bathed in the sunlight, I realised 

 that the temperature must be low, and it 



