3<D EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 



it, and I arrived just in time to assist in ending 

 its torments. It measured just 8 in., and 

 weighed probably 4 oz. They cooked it next 

 morning, and ate it all themselves the little 

 cormorants ! Never did trout taste like that 

 trout, and now they are crazy to go a-fishing 

 again. 



As to the two rod*) they got only one small 

 trout between them ! How could fish be ex- 

 pected to be caught in such weather ? The 

 sun's " perpendicular rays " penetrated the 

 very depths of the water, and no doubt caused 

 the girls' little trout to seek a cooler element 

 in that shaded but fatal pool. I can only say 

 the two rods did all that could be done under 

 the circumstances, and they consoled them- 

 selves with the reflection that they are not the 

 only experts who have failed; but no mercy 

 was shown them on the long drive home. 

 Those girls triumphed over them ; they crowed 

 over them ; they jeered at them ; they boasted 

 of their own superior skill ; and the two rods 

 were crestfallen indeed ! On our way home 

 through old familiar scenes, I pointed out to 

 the girls a small clump of trees, on the top of 

 one of which I had, seventy years ago, built 



