52 THE PRACTICAL ANGLER 



seen. Look at the angler how, with keen eye, he 

 watches to strike with alert hand the moment he 

 either feels or sees the least movement. There is a 

 stoppage of the line and an instantaneous movement 

 of the angler's wrist, and the trout is fast. At first 

 he shakes his head as if surprised and bewildered 

 at the unwonted interference with his liberty, but 

 gradually awakening to a sense of the danger of his 

 position, he collects his scattered energies and makes 

 a gallant fight for liberty ; frequently he will leap in 

 the air several times as if to ascertain the character 

 of his opponent, and then make a frantic rush ; but 

 the figure on the bank follows him like a shadow, and 

 at last, strength and hope both exhausted, he turns 

 on his side and becomes an easy prey, leaving the 

 angler to contemplate the speckled sides of his cap- 

 tive with satisfaction, and to congratulate himself 

 on having achieved such a feat with a tiny hook and 

 tackle like a gossamer. 



The victory, however, is not always with the angler 

 more frequently the other way ; often at the last 

 moment, just as he is putting out his hand to secure 

 his prize, the trout makes a bolt and is gone, leaving 

 the disappointed artist the picture of blank dismay, 

 and in a very unenviable frame of mind : indeed, of 

 all the trials of the temper which occur in the 

 ordinary course of life, there is none to compare 

 with that of losing a good trout at the last moment, 

 and anglers have various ways of giving vent to their 

 pent-up feelings, depending upon their peculiar idio- 

 syncrasy. But of all the different means of relief 



