OLD JOHN, TIM, & OTHERS 181 



"Wherever the natural fly can float, 

 " there the artiflcial can float if properly 

 " made, and oiled, and used. It is most 

 "interesting to watch your fly coming 

 "down dancing on the waves, and then 

 "disappear when the brown head of a 

 " trout breaks the surface ; also to see it 

 " pulled under when a trout takes one of 

 "the wet flies." Once I was witness of 

 the same feeling expressed without aid 

 from the literary art. I was casting into 

 a pool in a Hampshire stream. " See ! 

 see ! " some one behind me exclaimed. 

 I turned ; and there, in his shirt-sleeves, 

 was the landlord of the little inn at 

 which I was staying. With outstretched 

 arm he was pointing to something in 

 the blue air athwart the copse border- 

 ing the water, and his eyes were gleam- 

 ing with some sudden joy. I looked 

 towards where he pointed. It was 

 the first Mayfly of the year that had 

 moved him. The innkeeper was a 

 reserved, shy man, who at ordinary times 

 could scarcely be induced to talk at all ; 



