ON THE KOOTENAY 173 



qua non is a companion whose generosity is so 

 much greater than your own that he will insist 

 upon turning himself into a motor for your benefit. 

 Such a man is the Doctor. May all blessings rest 

 upon him ! Those golden hours on the Kootenay 

 were enriched by his companionship, and his un- 

 selfishness materially increased the Preacher's 

 score. 



Now we are off. The trunks have been un- 

 packed, the " girls " are tidying up the boat, the 

 Junior is busy floating his ships from the shore, 

 and the row-boat, with the Doctor at the oars and 

 the Preacher waving his rod, is rounding the point 

 of rocks to the south. Repeated casts of the flies 

 find nothing doing. At last there is a swirl and a 

 tug. But what sort of a trout is it at the end of 

 the line? He pulls and plunges, but there is never 

 a jump nor any indication of a purpose to break 

 water. It is not much of a fight, anyhow, and the 

 net lifts in a fish the like of which neither Doctor 

 nor Preacher has ever seen before. Large head, 

 enormous mouth, brownish back and sides with 

 yellowish belly, he looks something like a salt water 

 ling. And that was the sum total of the morning's 

 catch. Not much slaughter of the innocents about 

 that ! We ventured to cook that unclassified 

 victim, and he was not bad as food for the starving. 

 Later on the Doctor learned from the hermit of 

 course we had a hermit that the stranger is called 

 a " squaw-fish," although it is said that the proper 



