THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN TROUT. 283 



"Great Caesar!" he said, as he saw the fish safely envel- 

 oped in the net; "that sight is worth all my trip has cost 

 from Pennsylvania out here. If I could catch such a fish as 

 that big one, I don't think I should sleep a wink for a week." 



"Well, I hope you'll get a larger one before night, though 

 I don't want you to lose any sleep over it, if you do." 



I lifted the two fish from the net, laid them tenderly on 

 the gravelly beach, and we sat down to admire them; and if 

 God ever made anything more beautiful than they were, it 

 has not yet been my good fortune to see it. Their symmetri- 

 cal shape, the dark green of their backs, the iridescent, sil- 

 very whiteness of their sides and under parts, all sprinkled 

 with tiny black dots; the scarlet covering of their throats 

 and the delicate tinting of their fins all combined to make 

 up an ensemble of loveliness that could scarcely be excelled, 

 if all the elements of beauty in nature were merged into a 

 single object. 



The larger of the two Trout measured twenty and three- 

 fourths inches in length and twelve and one-fourth in girth; 

 the smaller fifteen and one-half in length and six and one- 

 half in girth. We regretted that we had not a scale with us, 

 but estimated the weight of the larger fish at something over 

 four, and of the smaller at two pounds. 



After resting a few minutes I began to dismount my rod. 



"Why!" said the parson, "what on the earth are you 

 doing that for?" 



"I'm through," I said. "I've caught all the fish and had 

 all the glory I want to-day." 



"But you surely are not going to quit fishing while you are 

 in the presence of such lovely water and such glorious sport 

 as this?" 



"That's just it. I have had enough of it, and I could not 

 think of breaking the charm cast upon my fancies, by kill- 

 ing that pair, with catching even one smaller and less noble 

 Trout. I will go with you the rest of the afternoon, enjoy 



