218 TROUT FISHING 



of equal sizes or nearly so, will be found 

 in their places. Whence they have 

 come, no man can exactly tell ; but there 

 they are, mysteriously, and it is reason- 

 able to believe that they had been 

 looking for the vacancies which they 

 have filled. 



Once I saw this little drama complete 



in a single day. That was on T 



J B 's water rising on the borders 



of Surrey and Sussex and Hampshire. 

 The two ponds near the old mill are 

 separated by a grass-covered path, across 

 which the stream, having filled the upper 

 pond, falls into the other. The second 

 pond is about nine feet under the surface 

 of the first ; and the stream tumbles into 

 it perpendicularly. 



Now, just below the waterfall lay 

 three great trout. They were well 

 known. Approaching carefully, any one 

 could see them from the grassy path 

 above. They had been there, the second- 

 largest just behind the first, and the third- 

 largest just behind the second, for years ; 



