A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH 115 



the way to the top the trout would strike, when 

 the sport became lively enough. Most of our fish 

 were taken in this way. There is nothing like the 

 flash and the strike at the surface, and perhaps 

 only the need of food will ever tempt the genuine 

 angler into any more prosaic style of fishing; but 

 if you must go below the surface, a shotted leader 

 is the best thing to use. 



Our camp-fire at night served more purposes than 

 one; from its embers and flickering shadows, Uncle 

 Nathan read us many a tale of his life in the woods. 

 They were the same old hunter's stories, except 

 that they evidently had the merit of being strictly 

 true, and hence were not very thrilling or marvel- 

 ous. Uncle Nathan's tendency was rather to tone 

 down and belittle his experiences than to exagger- 

 ate them. If he ever bragged at all (and I suspect 

 he did just a little, when telling us how he outshot 

 one of the famous riflemen of the American team, 

 whom he was guiding through these woods), he did 

 it in such a sly, roundabout way that it was hard 

 to catch him at it. His passage with the rifleman 

 referred to shows the difference between the practi- 

 cal offhand skill of the hunter in the woods and 

 the science of the long-range target-hitter. Mr. 

 Bull's Eye had heard that his guide was a capital 

 shot, and had seen some proof of it, and hence 

 could not rest till he had had a trial of skill with 

 him. Uncle Nathan, being the challenged party, 

 had the right to name the distance and the condi- 

 tions. A piece of white paper the size of a silver 



