THE VALUE OF OBSERVATION 39 



before, I started for this stream. Upon my 

 arrival there I was surprised to learn that not a 

 drop of rain had fallen in weeks, and that the 

 shower which had been heavy twenty miles 

 away had not reached the vicinity. While 

 driving from the station to the house at which 

 I was to stop, along a road that paralleled the 

 stream, the many glimpses I had of the latter 

 filled me with misgivings. At one point the 

 stream and road are very near each other, and, 

 stopping my driver, I got out to look at a 

 famous pool below a dam which had long out- 

 lived its usefulness. It was a sizzling-hot day, 

 and at that time eleven o'clock the sun was 

 almost directly overhead; yet in the crystal- 

 clear water of this pool, with not a particle of 

 shade to cover him, lay a native trout fourteen 

 inches in length which afterward proved to 

 weigh one pound three ounces. Too fine a fish, 

 I thought, as I clambered back into the carriage, 

 to be occupying such a place in broad daylight, 

 and I promised myself to try for him later in 

 the afternoon. Returning about six o'clock, I 

 found him in the same position, and during the 

 full twenty minutes I watched him, while he 

 appeared to be nervously alert, he never moved. 

 Notwithstanding the fact that everything was 



