246 Recreations of a Sportsman 



are like placers; the news of them leaps out 

 insidiously, and in a very short time the crowd 

 has exhausted the supply and some one gets 

 nothing. The true angler, I believe, was typi- 

 fied by Walton and his friends. He was a 

 philosopher, a lover of nature. He never started 

 out with the idea of fishing alone; his programme 

 included a variety of game, and it is with this 

 in view that a man should go a-fishing to-day. 

 If this idea does not hold, disappointment awaits 

 him. The old fishing ground is rarely the 

 same the second year, and things are not always 

 what they seem ; but if the angler goes anticipat- 

 ing pleasure from all things, the mountains, 

 the air, the views that are constantly changing, 

 the companionship of friends, the camp, lunches 

 in the woods, then there will be no disappoint- 

 ment if the trout are not rising, as they certainly 

 are not on some days. 



I think the most disagreeable feature I met 

 on Crystal Creek was the duck hunter in a 

 cheap launch with its exhaust overboard. 



For hours Beebe and I had been drifting down 

 the little river, rowing as carefully as we could, 

 not making the slightest noise, taking now and 

 then a splendid trout, when suddenly a roar- 

 ing demon was heard, spitting fire and smoke. 

 We could hear it half a mile away. The snipe 

 took to the woods, wood ducks flew off demoral- 

 ized, and the fishing was over for the day, when 



