84 How to spin when followed. Chapt. vi. 



if I did not know it, I should just go quietly paddling 

 on exactly as I am doing now, and then I shbuld pro- 

 bably get masticated for my listlessness. So the end of 

 my cogitations was that my bait was made to act out 

 this little pantomime, to pursue the even tenor of its 

 way seemingly unconscious of the devouring element be- 

 hind. But oh the agony of suspense! This spin can't 

 last for ever. Will the brutes never take? In another 

 yard or two the bait will have come so home to me, that 

 I shall have to pull it out. I was rewarded: one of the 

 two had made up his mind that it was "0. K.", and dashed 

 so suddenly on the bait, that all I was aware of, was his 

 disappearance from the side of his companion, and a 

 tugging at my rod. 



Fishing in bright water as one does, and as I have 

 explained always should do, in India, many a little pan- 

 tomime of this sort is seen throughout, and something 

 learnt therefrom of the manners and customs of the 

 scaly aborigines. But it should always be remember- 

 ed that two can play at that game. If you can see the 

 fish easily so too can he see you, and much more easily 

 than you can see him. He has every advantage over 

 you. Though I have twice touched passingly on this 

 subject already (pages 41, 43, 44), it is well worthy to be 

 gone thoroughly into, because it is at the very bottom 

 of all good fishing, cannot well be made too much of, 

 and finds proper place here on remarks how to fish. 

 The very first principle, the most important rule, of fish- 

 ing is to keep well out of sight, and to accomplish this 



