92 The Angler's Secret 



line, notwithstanding the little dipsy at 

 the end of the leader, stretched out as 

 soon as I raised the lead from the bay 

 bottom, and as I reeled in, I could 

 see the palmer dancing along on the 

 surface. 



When the hooks came within ten feet 

 of the boat, I discovered Mr. Fluke. He 

 glided along swiftly about a foot under 

 water, and when directly under the fly 

 darted up and snapped it in his great 

 mouth with quite the dash and accuracy 

 of a three-pound black bass. And all 

 this in water fully fifteen feet deep ! 



Well, I struck him with that same in- 

 stinctive and impulsive wrist movement 

 we brook-trout fishermen know so well, 

 and the palmer's hook point went into 

 his stout upper lip as clean and fair as 

 ever any well-directed barb pinioned the 

 very fish it was sharpened for. 



The fight that followed amazed my 

 fellow boatmen, and so unnerved half a 

 dozen German hand-liners in a neighbor- 



