LAKE AND STREAM 221 



it ! " " Got what ? " asked B., who was 

 distrihuting among his guests flagons of 

 claret and nut-brown ale. "That great 

 trout, and perhaps the others too ! " B. 

 laughed ; asked what the idea was ; and 

 offered three to one, in new hats, against 

 it, whatever it might be. I took the bet, 

 adding that the hats would have to be 

 of different kinds. " All right ! " said B. 

 "Are you to catch them with a fly, or 

 what ? " " Yes : a fly ; but it is you who 

 are to catch them — I am to tell you how." 

 After a brief rest amid the fragrance of 

 pipes and wild -flowers, B. and I went back 

 to the ponds. I examined his cast, and 

 took off the upper fly and the middle 

 fly, and saw that the remaining one, a 

 Red Palmer, was sound. Bidding my 

 friend keep well out of sight, down I lay 

 prone on the grassy path by the side of 

 the waterfall, and peered over. All the 

 three great trout were there. "Now, B., 

 give off two or three feet of line, no 

 more ; put the fly into the middle of the 

 trickle between the bushes, just before 



