JACK-O'-LANTERN 



A word here, perhaps of doubtful canonic- 

 ity, to the dry-fly man. I was telling the 

 companion of many voyages how impos- 

 sible we had found it to interest the very 

 large trout of yet another lake. The Indian 

 smoked and meditated awhile. — 'Did you 

 try butterflies?' We had not; and he assured 

 me that a floating butterfly was the fell- 

 est temptation with which you could assail 

 a fish. 



When the hour shall strike for the right 

 man, perchance the very pair that lay by 

 the bank so many years ago may still be 

 awaiting the fly to be dropped by his more 

 fortunate hand. It is not likely that a few 

 decades will make his way easier — unless 

 he follow the smooth paths of the air — and 

 he will have justly earned what success 

 attends him. In the meantime, Lac du 

 Gros Ruisseau takes its place provisionally 

 in a certain list of half a dozen lakes where 

 trout, great beyond the common, hitherto 

 have beaten the fisherman. With the friend- 

 ly warning that every one of them is far 

 away and hard to tackle, the roll is at the 

 service of any true man. 



Unpermitted to wring the secret from 

 this dark water, we turned our backs upon 

 its inscrutable surface, the sedgy margins, 

 169 



