37 8 Recreations of a Sportsman 



and gleaming behind. It was like dropping the 

 sounding lead into the abysmal deep five or six 

 miles off Porto Rico, or probing the Sigsbee or 

 some other deep; but this is the only way to 

 enter the realm of the big fish, so must be done, 

 though to some anglers, it is a real penance to 

 do in Rome what even the most noble Romans do. 



" A queer thing happened here last year," said 

 the boatman, stopping a moment to light his 

 pipe. " I reckon you 've heard the saying that 

 it 's the unexpected that always happens? " 



The angler had heard this somewhere. 



" Well, up comes a minister, a chap that I 

 don't believe ever caught a fish in his life, but 

 that did n't worry him. He had heard of Tahoe 

 trout, so when he didn't get any (slack out 

 your line a little more, sir; so) when he did n't 

 get any for breakfast he went to the landlord 

 and registered a protest. The landlord said, 

 ' You had better go out and try it yourself,' 

 ' What will you pay me if I provide your hotel 

 with trout every day? ' asked the dominie. ' I '11 

 give you your board,' said the hotel man. 



" Well, sir," continued the boatman, pulling 

 his port oar around so that he could see a snow- 

 capped mountain, " d' ye know that parson got 

 a boat, rigged up his own tackle, and rowed out, 

 and I 'm hanged if he did n't snake out some of 

 the biggest trout I ever saw, at just the place the 

 old timers said there were none. He took in 



