A PLUNGE AND A DIVE. 133 



the top, and the haft of the hook stuck into the end so that 

 by a little force it might be removed, and Tom and his 

 friend got upon the apron, and stooped over to see where 

 the great trout lay. 



" ' Here he is, Tom, just under the edge of this rock.' 

 Tom stretched himself over to get a view of the fish, when 

 a vigorous shove from the rear sent him like a great frog 

 plump towards the bottom of the pool. This was a con- 

 summation that Tom had not bargained for, but there was 

 no alternative but to swim for the shore, dripping like a 

 rat from a flooded sewer. That joke had two points to it, 

 and Tom G had the worst of them." 



"Your anecdote," said Smith, "reminds me of one in 

 which I was an actor, and which was impressed upon my 

 mind by a process which few boys are fond of, but which 

 is very apt to make the impression durable. I fished for 

 trout once without line or hook. I got a fine string of them, 

 and myself into a pretty kettle of fish in the bargain. On 

 my father's farm, as it was when I was a boy, was a stream 

 that came down through a gorge in the mountains that 

 bounded the pleasant valley in which that farm lay. In 

 the spring freshets and the summer rains, that stream was 

 a mighty and resistless torrent, that came roaring and 

 plunging down from the plain above, cascading and leaping 

 down ledges and rushing though a gorge, on either side 

 of which precipices of solid rock stood straight up two 

 hundred feet in height. It was a goodly sight to see that 

 stream when its back was up, come rushing and foaming, 



