THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN TROUT. 283 



"Great Caesar!" he said, as he saw the fish safely envel- 

 oped in the net; "that sight is worth all my trip has cost 

 from Pennsylvania out here. If I could catch such a fish as 

 that big one, I don't think I should sleep a wink for a week." 



"Well, I hope you'll get a larger one before night, though 

 I don't want you to lose any sleep over it, if you do." 



I lifted the two fish from the net, laid them tenderly on 

 the gravelly beach, and we sat down to admire them; and if 

 God ever made anything more beautiful than they were, it 

 has not yet been my good fortune to see it. Their symmetri- 

 cal shape, the dark green of their backs, the iridescent, sil- 

 very whiteness of their sides and under parts, all sprinkled 

 with tiny black dots; the scarlet covering of their throats 

 and the delicate tinting of their fins — all combined to make 

 up an ensemble of loveliness that could scarcely be excelled, 

 if all the elements of beauty in nature were merged into a 

 single object. 



The larger of the two Trout measured twenty and three- 

 fourths inches in length and twelve and one-fourth in girth; 

 the smaller fifteen and one-half in length and six and one- 

 half in girth. We regretted that we had not a scale with us, 

 but estimated the weight of the larger fish at something over 

 four, and of the smaller at two pounds. 



After resting a few minutes I began to dismount my rod. 



"Why!" said the parson, "what on the earth are you 

 doing that for.^" 



"I'm through," I said. "I've caught all the fish and had 

 all the glory I want to-day." 



"But you surely are not going to quit fishing while you are 

 in the presence of such lovely water and such glorious sport 

 as this.'" 



"That's just it. I have had enough of it, and I could not 

 think of breaking the charm cast upon my fancies, by kill- 

 ing that pair, with catching even one smaller and less noble 

 Trout. I will go with you the rest of the afternoon, enjoy 



