286 GRAYLING. — NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 



o'clock P. M., capturing twelve grayling, — mj' entire catch 

 for thechw being tliirty-three, and for the day and the even- 

 ing before, thirty-seven. Of these, three weighed ten ounces 

 each, and measured as I have described my second fish, 

 (^uite a number weiglied half a pound, or a trifle more. 

 The}^ were a glorious sight in the well, when I landed and 

 gazed at them to my heart's content, before permitting the 

 men to despoil their fair forms. 



My prettiest si)ort was had at a deep, narrow and swift 

 passage in the river, up which we were forcing our way 

 by clinging to the branches and working as best we could. 

 Jones held the boat right in the edge of this swift water, 

 while I cast up-stream, taking fairl}^ large fish frequentlj . 

 One ten-ounce fish, struck in the water above me, rushed 

 swiftly down stream, forty or fifty feet below the boat, 

 before I could check him. At the instant, when I brought 

 him to bay. he sprang fully three feet out of water, — as 

 magnificent a leap as I ever saw, — flapping his tail with a 

 noise that I distinctly heard above the rush of the rapids, 

 as if applauding himself for his gallant exploit. 



"Gracious! " said I. 



" Gosh all Christopher!" said Jones. 



I wouldn't have missed landing that fish, after such a 

 display of his beauty and strength, and after the brave bat- 

 tle he made for the next five minutes, for the best bamboo 

 ever won at a fl3"-casting tournament by either of those 

 veterans of the angle, Reub. Wood or Seth Green. 



The team met us at the'Hay Road, at six o'clock P. M., 

 and we tediously drove fifteen miles through the jack-pines, 

 the heavj' timber, and finall}^ overa corduroj^ road through 

 a swamp, back, late in the evening, to Grayling and our 

 hotel. 



