TROUT IN THE RHINE. 263 



a boat, with a strong German boy to row. I had to keep 

 a sharp look-out, for the current is wild, and it is not quite 

 sure that, if you are careless, you may not go over the falls. 

 By-the-by, Major, with all our boasting, we haven't many 

 cataracts in America as fine as the Rhine Falls. It's a 

 grand piece of scenery. It looks better from below than 

 above, however, if you happen to be in a heavy boat with 

 a stupid boy as oarsman. We were just on the edge of 

 the swift water, and I told him to hold on by the bushes 

 and keep the craft steady while I cast. He obeyed, until 

 a tremendous swirl and swash startled him as a trout 

 struck the fly. The rush was so sudden that the boy was 

 absolutely scared, so that he let go the bushes, and the 

 boat swept right across the line at the same instant that 

 the trout went down. My second joint broke close to 

 the butt ferrule, and we went like lightning toward the 

 falls. I dropped my rod to seize an oar, and threw my 

 whole weight on it. The boat yielded, took the cant I 

 intended, and plunged bow on into the bank, where I 

 seized the bushes and held on till the young Teuton came 

 to his senses. Meantime the second joint and tip had 

 gone overboard, and the reel was paying out. I brought 

 in line very gently, and grasping the lower end of the sec- 

 ond joint, dropped the butt, and proceeded to try an old 

 and difficult plan of using the hand instead of a reel. As 

 soon as I got in slack enough I felt the fish. He was at 

 the bottom, and made a rush when he felt the first steady 

 pressure of the tip. It took me twenty minutes, with sec- 

 ond joint and tip, to kill that trout, well on to four pounds' 

 weight, and the largest I ever killed east of the Atlantic. 

 That same evening I took twenty more trout, and no one 

 of them went over four ounces." 



"I am one of the few," said the Major, sipping his 



