ing my way.

It was slow travelling, and my feet were not above a couple of inches
above the water, while the windows of the grinding-shop were about four
feet above my head.

I made no special selection, but stopped right in the middle, just where
I imagined that the dam head would be deepest, and softly dropped in my
line after setting down my basket and leaning my back against the stone
building.

As I did so I wished that there had been a place to sit down, but there
was of course only just room to stand, and there I was with the water
gliding on and over the great wheel a few yards to my left; to my right
the windows, out of which poured the black smoke of the forges, and from
which came the _clink chink_ of hammer upon anvil, while above me came
throbbing and vibrating, screeching and churring, the many varied sounds
made by the grinders as they pressed some piece of steel against the
swiftly revolving stone, while, in spite of dripping drenching water,
the least contact drew from the stone a shower of sparks.

I fished on, after making a few alterations in the depth of my bait,
finding the water far deeper than I expected. I renewed that bait, too,
but no monstrous fish came to take it, to hook itself, and to make a
rush and drag me off my ledge. The sounds buzzed and rattled overhead;
there was the echoing plash of the water over the wheel, and the
whispering echoes which did not sound at all terrible now, and above all
from the windows overhead, in intervals of the grinding, I could hear
the men talking very earnestly at times.

I paid very little heed, for I was interested in my fishing and the
water across which the spiders were skating. I wanted a big bite--that
big bite--but still it did not come, and I began to wonder whether there
were any fish of size in the place.

"There's every reason why there should be," I thought. Deep clear water
fed by the great dam up in the hills, and of course that dam was fed by
the mountain streams. This place was all amongst buildings, and plenty
of smuts fell on the surface; in fact the wind used to send a regular
black scum floating along to the sides.

_Plop_!

My heart gave a throb of excitement, for there was a rise evidently made
by a big fish over to my right close inshore.

"Now if I had been there," I thought, "I should have most likely been
able to catch that fish and then--"

Bah! Who wanted to catch a great water-rat that had plumped off the
b