PROVING THE RULE 



customary flies, and, as time wore on, with 

 a variety of creations, ranging from the 

 tiniest of black gnats to freaks that suggest- 

 ed in size and plumage the toucan or the 

 macaw. Unlikely places were visited. 

 Everywhere the fly-book's furniture met 

 with the same treatment, — not fastidious re- 

 jection, but the blankest indifference. There 

 was no forcing ourselves upon the notice of 

 these fish. It is true that someone was half 

 persuaded he had seen a great trout move, 

 but this was the beginning of it, and the 

 end. 



Slipping in the natural human way from 

 error to error, we began to think that all 

 these efforts were being wasted upon water 

 temporarily barren. Dead it looked: dead 

 as a roadside puddle. Mysteriously, the 

 big trout were otherwhere. Even from the 

 exceeding multitude of lesser ones, usually 

 taken here at pleasure, it was not easy to 

 secure a few dozens for the frying-pan. 



Throughout these disappointing hours the 

 rain was steadily becoming heavier. When 

 the failing light made it plain that the jig 

 was up, and dripping figures, stiffly arising 

 from canoes, showed intimate touch with 

 waters other than those that be above the 

 firmament, the low-hung sky abandoned 

 115 



