4:8 A LAWSUIT AND A COMPEOMI8E. 



into the lake; but he was fast, and after straggling for a 

 time, he partially surrendered, and I reeled him in. Slowly, 

 and with a sullen struggling, he was drawn towards the 

 shore, sometimes with his head out of water, and sometimes 

 diving towards the bottom. At last, he caught sight of me, 

 and with renewed energy he plunged away again, clear across 

 the current and out into the lake. But the tension of the 

 elastic rod working against him steadily, and always, was 

 too much for his strength, and again I reeled him in, strug- 

 gling still, though faintly. Slowly, but steadily, I reeled 

 him to my hand. He was just by the edge of the rock, 

 almost within reach of my landing net, when, with a last 

 desperate effort to escape, he plunged towards the bottom, 

 made a dive under the rock, the line came against its edge, 

 slipped gratingly for a moment, snapped, and the fish was 

 gone. He was a beautiful trout, and beautifully he played. 

 He deserved freedom on account of the energy with which 

 he struggled for it, 



"You will see, therefore, that, as I said, I was in a 

 dilemma. The action against me was well brought. I 

 could not deny the truth of the facts charged against me 

 in the complaint. In this position of affairs, three alterna- 

 tives presented themselves; first, a denial of the truth of 

 the complaint, but that involved perjury; secondly, admis- 

 sion of the facts charged, but that involved conviction; 

 and, thirdly, a compromise, and the latter one I adopted. 



" ' Can't this thing be settled,' said I, to the old lawyer 

 fish of the St. Lawrence, ' without litigation ?' 



