144 TROUT FISHING 



before she stepped a few yards farther. 

 On any reasoning according to the ortho- 

 doxy of angling, one would not have 

 expected her to find much sport on that 

 system. One would have thought that if 

 a trout did not rise at the first cast over 

 him, he would be put down, and would 

 stay down. That idea, it turned out, 

 would have been a mistake. Half an 

 hour after the capture of the first fish, 

 the lady was battling with another. 

 After having had the flies thrown over 

 him at least twelve times, he leapt at 

 Mellursh's Fancy with precision and 

 honest intent. What the intent was, 

 whether it came from appetite or from 

 anger, one cannot say for certain ; but my 

 own interpretation of the lady's success 

 was simple. It was that the trout had not 

 been alarmed by her first cast, or by her 

 second, or by any other. He had not 

 rushed at the lure in anger. He had 

 simply said to himself, as cast after cast 

 dropped over him, "Upon my word, 

 here's a rise of Mellursh ! It is pretty 



