214 



The AiiuriciDi Ain^^/cr. 



instinCls in his heart, hinited me up, 

 and insinuated that trout eould be had 

 in that country, with less labor and 

 with better results, than by whipping- 

 the stream with a cast of flies. Follow- 

 ing on the heels of this is the further 

 fact that, on the evening of the same 

 day, I was taken by a saffron -colored, 

 snuff-dipping native, for a fish biiyer, 

 instead of an ang-ler. My reply was a 

 courteous (?) No, sir ; I am here to take 

 my trout on a fly, not to buy them. It 

 would be a grave offense on the part of 

 a true sportsman to knowingly go on an 

 outing with parties w^ho resorted to 

 such measures to fill their baskets, and 

 a misdemeanor did he become a party 

 to the purchase. No wonder men have 

 pra3"ed to be delivered from their friends. 



After the second day's experience, 



fishing-, with Max and Mr. P , was 



spasmodic, and they were right glad of 

 the opportunity to accept the Colonel's 

 invitation to accompany him in his 

 rambles through the valley and over 

 the by-roads, and in his frequent walks 

 to a noted mineral .spring a mile or so 

 from the house. Incredible as it may 

 appear to the most intimate friends of 

 Max, he contracted an inordinate thirst 

 for the waters of this spring. And the 

 writer has often wondered if ' ' Old- 

 Man-Fall-Down-in-the-Water " has suc- 

 ceeded in satisfactorily explaining to 

 his good wife, the ties of kinship exist- 

 ing between this spring and Old Mount 

 Vernon. 



It is none to the disparagement of 

 these three tender-feet that they so 

 soon g-ot their fill of fishing on the 

 Nantahala. Fly casting was, and for 

 that matter still is, an unknown art to 

 them, and the stream is a slavish one 

 to wade. It has a current of four or 

 five miles to the hour, while its bed is 

 a labyrinthine mass of boulders, no two 



of the same size or shape but all pos- 

 sessing one characteristic in common, a 

 slippiness akin to greased lightning. 

 And "instead of finding the water at its 

 best, the river was very low, insect life 

 in the greatest profusion, and the trout 

 as fat as Christmas beef, taking a fly 

 gingerly, more in play than in hunger. 

 Time and again, I had good fish strike 

 at my cast three and four times in rapid 

 succession without touching a fly, often 

 clearing the water, and describing that 

 symmetrical half circle that elicits your 

 admiration one second and forces you 



to saj- d , the next, because he does 



not take your fly on the descent. 



Thus practically deserted by our 

 coi-nrades, " Young-Man-Afraid-of-the- 

 Water " and myself were forced to do 

 all the casting and to catch all the trout 

 our party and the family with whom 

 we put up, could eat. That we did 

 this, and right nobly too, I don't think 

 our three tender-foot friends w411 gain- 

 say. The faithful fishing we did was 

 worthy of fuller creels than we brought 

 in, and had the conditions been more 

 favorable we would have taken trout 

 "to beat the band." 



The largest fish caught by the party 

 measured eleven and a half inches, and 

 fell to my lot. He took my tail fly in 

 the stiff current of a five-mile rapid, 

 and when the hook went home he 

 cleared the water with a graceful curve, 

 his mottled sides glistening in the 

 nlorning sun, then into the more quiet 

 waters of the pool, a mad rush into the 

 foaming rapids and down the current, 

 one more brilliant leap for freedom, 

 and then making for the quieter waters 

 settles down to a stubborn fight of give 

 and take. Now I retrieve a little line, 

 the next instant he has taken that and 

 twenty feet more before I can turn 

 him ; at this stage of the fight, " Young- 



