DAYS ON THE NEPIGON. 



inspires respect. Zip ! they've embraced each 

 other with swift unrestrained joy and sorrow, 

 and the skirmish with unnecessary hullabaloo 

 is on all along the line. It is difficult to de- 

 clare which has taken the initiative, cock-a- 

 doosh or broadtail. Quicker than the telling 

 comes the calm excitement of doubt, hope and 

 pleasure. Trout's fighting blood is aroused 

 in the unappreciable fraction of a twinkling 

 and thoroughly sprinkled with tabasco, for he 

 comes with fire in his eyes, which proclaims he 

 means business, and he does things aplenty in 

 quick succession, and the provocation is seri- 

 ous enough in all conscience. 



Great Scott! But he fights with an ardor 

 befitting his class; fights just as a man fights 

 when driven into a corner, knowing he must 

 strike quick and hard or receive a drubbing 

 and perhaps get it anyhow. There is nothing 

 languid about him. He has led the strenuous 

 life, learning to swim and earning his daily 

 bread by the sweat of his brow, and the sweep 

 of his tail among the whirling eddies and 

 rapids and the hurly-burly of conflicting cur- 

 31 



