130 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



line to prevent him from breaking off in his fright 

 when foully struck at. Finally the gaffer reached 

 him, struck out wildly, scratched the fish and 

 snapped the leader ! The silence which followed 

 was a grand exhibition of fortitude and forbear- 

 ance. It may have been that my friend could find 

 no words suitable to the occasion ; but I preferred 

 to attribute the Christian-like grace with which 

 he succumbed to the inevitable, to the possession 

 of that rare virtue commended by the Scripture : 

 " Greater is he that ruleth his spirit than he that 

 taketh a city." That gaffer gaffed no more for 

 DUN. 



A like misfortune happened to General ARTHUR 

 not long afterward, under even more provoking 

 circumstances. He had hooked his fish, played 

 him with consummate skill and brought him 

 several times to the very feet of his gaffer the 

 last time seemingly a dead fish and into water not 

 twelve inches deep. But a spell seemed to be on 

 the poor Indian. He struck once, twice, thrice, 

 without effect except upon the leader, which he 

 broke. But even then the fish did not stir, neither 

 did the gaffer. The fish seemed bewildered, as 

 the gaffer certainly was, until the General quietly 

 intimated that as the fish was waiting to be gaffed 

 it would be well to gratify him ; when the Indian 

 seemed to comprehend the situation, and pro- 



