OF A LARGEST TROUT 295 



on the move, if it has only been some old horse- 

 trout minnowing in the glide. On the blankest 

 days Crab Hatch will offer evidence that the river 

 is inhabited. It is impossible to be utterly des- 

 pondent just before reaching Crab Hatch. And 

 in the late evening it is a solemn and choice spot. 

 The water circles there eternally, and you never 

 know what you may get your hook into. A 

 pounder in that rapid current gives the effect of 

 the great Leviathan himself, and the reel screeches 

 and one's heart leaps and the fine strong excite- 

 ment is yours, yea, though the fish go back. I 

 cannot allot any but the first place to Crab Hatch. 

 It is certainly the best spot on the water. 



I arrived about eight o'clock. 



Ten minutes after I got there I saw a paltry 

 little rise just on the hump of gravel where the 

 glide is (and the young graylings are). I cursed it, 

 because I had hoped to find rising to-night the 

 Immense Fish which last night rose twice in the 

 still below the glide. But though I waited his 

 pleasure for several more seconds, nothing hap- 

 pened to that mirror of the western glory. 

 Patience, after sunset, does not reside within forty 

 miles of me. I got out line and threw despon- 

 dently to the gravel hump a red quill, to be precise, 

 dressed on a number two or thereabout hook. 

 Since I was not in luck in the matter of the 



