310 I GO A -FISHING. 



that we had not brought long rods, and protesting that it 

 would be a waste of time to remain on the lake. " I have 

 seen fine trout rise inshore there," said the Frenchman, 

 as we passed a sort of cove, a rock rising between us and 

 it some twenty or thirty feet off. Dupont, without rising, 

 prepared for his first cast. A few swift swings of the rod 

 while he reeled off the required length, and seventy feet 

 of gray silk line was in the air, then a short twist of the 

 wrist and the little red ibis fly touched the water, away 

 beyond the rock in the middle of the cove, full five rods 

 distant. Nor had it touched the surface before there was 

 a sharp rush and plunge over it, and my friend quietly 

 said, " I have him." The look of the Frenchman was in- 

 finitely ludicrous. When he saw the line gathering in the 

 air for the cast, he forgot his paddle ; when the fly went 

 into the cove, he stood up with open mouth ; when Du- 

 pont said, "I have him," he gulped out, "What! a trout?" 

 and when he saw the little Norris rod bend to the pull, 

 and after a short struggle bring alongside a pound trout, 

 which with the aid of the landing-net soon lay at his feet, 

 his expressions of astonishment knew no bounds. I was 

 so thoroughly occupied in watching his countenance and 

 enjoying the surprise as well of our Colebrook friend, that 

 for a full half-hour I lay in the end of the boat without 

 making a cast. Dupont meantime landed a dozen fine 

 trout, and threw back some which were too small for such 

 company. When I commenced to work, we had an illus- 

 tration of the curious luck of fishermen. Our rods, lines, 

 leaders, and flies were precisely alike, and we cast within 

 six feet of each other, but nothing would rise to me, while 

 he took fine fish. For more than an hour I did not have 

 one rise, while he was taking plenty. Then suddenly, for 

 no cause that I can explain, my luck changed, and I had 



