had failed to take, and in the light of this experience he was inclined to belittle his first supreme performance. He was enchanted with his sport, but by no means puffed-up, and he was as ready as ever to sit at my feet and hear me talk, in spite of my having caught nothing more. Subsequently, during that season, he beat my take every time, and I think he must have modified his view of my dexterity. But he never let me see this, which shows, first, what a magnificent nature is MacArthur's, and, secondly, that a first-rate wet-fly angler who approaches a chalk-stream with the proper rod and line, and takes an instructor in whom he has implicit confidence, can do as well as anybody, if he will only follow that instructor's hints to the letter. But I have yet to hear of the dry-fly man who mastered wet-fly fishing in a season, or in five seasons. Two things are necessary to both arts: an apparatus and manual skill. But to the wet-fly game must be added knowledge. And the greatest of these is knowledge.
