8o THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



feet wide and not over a dozen in length, with 

 six feet of water in it. On the bottom lay a 

 fine brown trout, as motionless as if dead. He 

 was actually lying on the sand and pebbles, 

 apparently devoid of all interest in life. I with- 

 drew quietly and, getting below him and be- 

 hind a tree-stump on the bank, put on a new 

 fly a Whirling Dun and, with but little hope, 

 sent the fly on its errand. It fell lightly upon 

 the glassy surface about a yard above the fish, 

 which was at all times in plain view; but he 

 seemed entirely oblivious to it. There was 

 practically no current to carry it down, and it 

 seemed an interminable length of time before 

 the fly got below the fish far enough for me to 

 take it off the water without disturbance; but 

 at last I retrieved it and, after drying it thor- 

 oughly, dropped it again. I repeated this opera- 

 tion six times before I noticed any change in 

 the position of the fish, and all of the time he 

 was just "lolling" on the bottom. The sixth 

 cast seemed to attract his attention, and, with 

 all fins moving, he lifted ever so little from the 

 bottom and stood poised. I felt that I had him 

 interested that he was alert and I knew that 

 the slightest mistake from then on meant failure, 

 complete and certain; and my excitement was 



