HOOKING TIP TROUT. 163 



sinker, and dropped quietly among them. A large fellow 

 worked his way lazily above where the hooks lay on the bot- 

 tom, eying me, as if laughing at my folly in attempting to 

 deceive him, with fly or bait. I jerked suddenly, and two of 

 the hooks fastened into him near the tail. That trout was 

 astonished, as were half a dozen or more of -his fellows, when 

 they came out of the water tail foremost, struggling with all 

 their might against so vulgar and undignified a manner of 

 leaving their native element. We got as beautiful a string 

 in this way as one would wish to see, albeit they lauged at 

 our best skill with fly and bait ; and the cream of the matter 

 was, that we had our pick of the shoal. 



We pitched our tents at the foot of the second rapids, on 

 a high, moss-covered bank. The roar of the water sounded 

 deep and solemn among the old woods, as it went roaring 

 and tumbling, and struggling through the gorge. The night 

 winds moaned and sighed among the trees above us, while 

 the night bird's notes came soothingly from the wilderness 

 around us. 



" What a strange diversity of tastes exists among the peo- 

 ple of this world of ours," said the Doctor, addressing him- 

 self to me, as we satin front of our tents, listening to the 

 roar of the waters. " You and I, I take it, enjoy a fort- 

 night or so, among these lakes, and old forests, with a 

 keener relish than Spalding or Smith here. I judge so, be- 

 cause we indulge in these trips every year, while this is their 

 first adventure of the kind. But even you and I, however 

 much we may love the woods, however we may enjoy these 



