Young Knights of the Empire : Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns by Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron, 1857-1941

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REPAIRING A ROD.

One day I broke the delicate top joint of my fly-fishing rod by catching the fly in a bush during the back throw.

Well, it's no use giving up fishing because your rod is broken; the thing to do is to set to work and mend it. It is an accident which often happens, especially to a beginner, and every Scout ought to know how to mend his rod.

My rod had snapped off a few inches from the tip, so I took the ring off the broken tip, and, after trimming the broken end of the rod with my knife, I put the ring on to this and thus made my rod workable; but it was just a few inches shorter than it had been before.

This is the way to bind your ring on to the new tip--at least, it's the way I did it, and it served quite well for the rest of my trip.

Having no beeswax, I took some "gum" from the bark of a fir tree and rubbed a thin coating on the rod and on the black silk thread I had with me; then, putting the ring on to the end of the rod, I bound it there with a very careful and tight wrapping of the silk. This I had previously wound on to a stick so as to get a good hold on it for pulling each turn tight.

To fasten the end of the silk, proceed as follows:

[Illustration: HOW TO BIND THE RING OF A FISHING-ROD ON A NEW TIP.]

After winding from A steadily up towards the point B (about an inch), when you have still about half a dozen turns to do, make a big loop of your silk C, and lay the loose end of it, B D, on the unbound bit of rod, and go on binding over it until you have reached the point B with your thread as in the sketch. You then pull D and the loop C gradually closes in till there is nothing left of it. Then you cut off the loose end D close to the rod.

Put a coating of gum or varnish over the whole to make it fast and watertight, and then you have your rod as strong and as sound as ever.

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FISHERMEN'S KNOTS.

In order to be able to fix your hook on to your line and to join up the different bits of line, you want to know how to tie your knots; but in addition to those which you have learnt as a Scout there are several more which come in useful for a fisherman.

I will only give you one or two here, but there are many others. These are drawn half tied, just before pulling tight.

Here is the overhand loop:

[Illustration: KNOT]

To join a line to a loop do it this way:

[Illustration: KNOT]

Much the same kind of knot is used to tie a hook to a line:

[Illustration: KNOT]