IN THE JEWEL BOX 



never seen such a stream as that for big 1 trout, nor 

 have I ever seen conditions more comfortable. 



Two or three times I raised one big one which I 

 thought was an earlier acquaintance. At last, from 

 my position above, I could see him come up slowly 

 and deliberately, a heavy, thick-shouldered fish; 

 four and a quarter pounds he was. When I struck 

 him I soon found the five-ounce rod did not control 

 him, and he walked round pretty much as he pleased. 



After a long struggle we got this heavy, dull fish 

 into the net and incidentally added to him the two 

 other fish that may or may not have been the ones 

 I had raised on the same bank previously at least, 

 we declared they were. And when we went to camp 

 for lunch and cleaned up our trout, we found what 

 had made our big trout so thoughtful. He had that 

 morning eaten a bullfrog a little longer than my 

 hand ! I have sometimes heard it said that trout do 

 not care for frogs. 



When we lifted our box into the buckboard that 

 evening it was heavy with trout, very heavy. Per- 

 haps for one ought to be honest in such matters 

 the heaviness of the box may have left my reason 

 not wholly calm and dispassionate; but, though I 

 cannot swear whether we had twenty-four or 

 twenty-six trout, I can swear that never was moun- 

 tain wind sweeter, never was mountain valley more 



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