6S ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



open mouth, would fling liiniseK high into the air 

 in a brave attempt to seize a passing moth ; and 

 again, a two-pounder, like a miniature porpoise, 

 would lazily rise to the , surface, roll up his golden 

 side, and, flinging his broad tail upward, with a 

 splash disappear. Casting loose my flies and un- 

 coiling my leader, I made ready to cast ; but John, 

 unmindful or regardless of the motion, kept the even 

 sweep of his stroke. Eound tufted banks, under 

 overhanging pines, and through tangled lily-}!ads 

 we passed, and at every turn and up every stretch 

 of water the same sight presented itseK. At length, 

 sweeping sharply round a curve, John suddenly re- 

 versed his paddle and checked the boat, so that the 

 bow stood upon the very rim of a pool some forty 

 feet across. Dark and gloomy it lay, with its sur- 

 face as smooth as though no ripple had ever crossed 

 it No one would have guessed that beneath the 

 t/anquil surface lay life and sport. 



Adjusting myself firndy on my narrow seat, un- 

 tangling the snells and gatliering up my leader, I 

 flung the flies into mid-air and launched them out 

 over the pool. The moment their feathery forms 

 had specked the water, a single gleam of yellow 

 light flashed up from the dark depth, and a trout, 

 clorsing his moutli upon the brown hackle, darted 

 downward. I struck and had him. A small trout 

 he proved to be, of only some half-pound weight. 

 After having passed him over to John to be disen- 



