sidered a duffer, as he evidently thought me, was 

 most humiliating. I immediately handed the rod 

 to him, and said : " Now show me what you can do." 



His eyes brightened, his lips parted, and the most 

 satisfied grin I have ever seen appeared on his face. 

 He at once cut off the fly as well as the loop at th> 

 end of the leader, pulled from his hat a fly, one 

 of his own make, a little larger but of the same 

 pattern I had been using, and fastened it to the 

 leader by a process which I had not then learned, 

 but will explain later. Before casting he allowed 

 the line to drift down the river until it had straight- 

 ened itself; then up went his arms, the rod ben hni: 

 gently backward and throwing the line in a perfect 

 curve, when suddenly, with a quick turn of the 

 wrists, the rod sprang forward, sending the fly diag- 

 onally across the pool. It fell so softly that it 

 hardly touched the water then a whirl, a splash, 

 a strike. "I 've got him!" he shouted "I told 

 you so ! Take the rod," he said. 



"No, thanks; you play him," I replied. His 

 contented little grin at once changed into one of 

 the most fiendish. There was a fierce struggle, the 

 fish was killed in a short time, and as he turned 

 toward me the little grin reappeared, so I knew he 

 was happy. I was humiliated, but it really gave 

 me greater pleasure to see him hook and kill that 

 tMi than to have accomplished the feat myself. 

 His knowledge of the manner in which to place the 



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