With and Against tbe Grains 29 



bushed me, expecting to find me at the creek when 

 I failed to appear at supper-time. All that I saw 

 for the moment was a great, foamy swirl of water, a 

 struggling, burnished body, seemingly as large as 

 my leg, a glint of the grains near a broad, flapping 

 tail ; then the staff floated idly toward me. 



" He's loose ! He's upstream ! Run him, man ! " 

 shouted Jack, as I grasped the grains and sped 

 away. A wake in the water now and then hinted 

 where the fish was, and I belted along as fast as the 

 waders and treacherous footing would allow. At 

 the end of a hundred-yard burst I had enough, and 

 at the same time saw that further chase was useless, 

 for the creek suddenly broadened into a deep pond. 

 As I pulled up I caught a glimpse of the fish near 

 the bank, and within reasonable throwing distance. 

 It was moving slowly, and a white scar near the tail 

 showed where a tine of the grains had failed to hold. 

 With a last desperate effort I hurled the shaft again. 

 It left my hand all right, but an unnoticed twig 

 caused it to swerve, and the steel struck the water a 

 yard from its mark. The startled fish disappeared 

 in the pond like an arrow of light, while I thought 

 hard things of luck in general and this kind of 

 luck in particular. 



Naturally the adventure made us keen, and as 

 soon as I could escape from the overplus of pies, 

 etc., we went back to the creek. A big fire of drift- 

 wood was soon started, its red glare showing far 

 upon the river. With grains in hand, we watched 

 many a passing fish, and once in a while we struck 

 mullet and suckers. Time slipped away ; duck clove 

 the darkness overhead with hissing wings ; owls 



