18 THE AI>1R0NDACK. 



the windows and sides of the house, and the thunder 

 pealing harmlessly without; you laugh at the ele- 

 ments which you had feared, and feel as if you had 

 baffled an enemy whose ravings now were impotent 

 and foolish. The rudest room is then pleasant, and 

 the hardest bed soft as down. A delightful calm 

 succeeds the turbulence of feeling, and you are at 

 peace with all the world. 



T will not weary you with an account of my next 

 morning's ride, nor of the thorough drenching I 

 received. 



Arriving at a clearing, I had hardly swallowed some 

 dinner before I donned my India-rubber leggings and 

 plunged into a splendid stream near by, after trout. 

 The very first cast I made, I took one, and kept 

 taking them, till, at the end of two hours, I had fifty 

 fine fellows. The best one of all, however, I lost. I 

 had approached with great caution a noble pool, made 

 by a rapid current that shot along a ledge of rocks, 

 then spread out into an open basin. Seating myself 

 carefully on a narrow shelf, I threw my fly, and 

 moving it slowly in an oblique direction across the 

 stream, soon saw a great fellow rise to the surface. 

 Til 1 twinkling, he was b(»itko(] : hnt just nt Hi-if 



