30 WITH A NINE-FOOT 



evening was far spent an unrecorded 

 number of mugs of beer had had an un- 

 loosening effect upon his tongue. He 

 unfolded the story of the day's sport to 

 the landlady, who bought his fish, and in 

 anything but a concise and lucid man- 

 ner related how he had used some 

 "special" flies of his own make, now 

 attached to a cast carefully hidden un- 

 der the broad mourning band that en- 

 circled his hat ! And no doubt the good 

 woman, with the unsuspecting nature 

 of her kind, believed all she was told ! 

 But not satisfied with that, and having, 

 as he thought, hoodwinked me also, he 

 proceeded to entertain his most trusty 

 friends in disconnected whisperings 

 with the " real truth " of the affair ! 

 What that was, even if it were ever made 

 known, is best left unrecorded. I left 

 him sitting in the thick tobacco smoke, 

 "gettin' fou and unco happy," his gray 

 eyes lustrous with excitement, the bow- 



