178 O'er Crag and Torrent 



hoisted him out triumphantly. Was I 

 happy ? 



Great Scott ! don't ask me such a ques- 

 tion. I was overjoyed, and so was the 

 old chap. We had a drink emptied the 

 flask, in fact we shook hands, and then 

 we went to a small farm and weighed the 

 fish. Four pounds and a quarter good, was 

 the announcement. To this day I do not 

 think I should have killed him on so small 

 a fly, but for the fact that in one of his 

 plunges, I suppose, the cast had taken a 

 round turn over his head and behind his gill 

 covers, the hook holding well in his mouth. 

 If I had been offered a thousand pounds I 

 could not have fished any more that day. I 

 counted my bag, and found I had five dozen 

 and three fish, not including my king of 

 trout. I insisted on my old friend taking a 

 couple of dozen of the best of my fish, and 

 then tying the big fellow head and tail 



