SPECKLED TROUT 



down. The scene was charming. The sun shot up 

 great spokes of light from behind the woods, and 

 beauty, like a presence, pervaded the atmosphere. 

 But torment, multiplied as the sands of the sea- 

 shore, lurked in every tangle and thicket. In a 

 thoughtless moment I removed my shoes and socks, 

 and waded in the water to secure a fine trout that 

 had accidentally slipped from my string and was 

 helplessly floating with the current. This caused 

 some delay and gave the gnats time to accumulate. 

 Before I had got one foot half dressed I was en- 

 veloped in a black mist that settled upon my hands 

 and neck and face, filling my ears with infinitesimal 

 pipings and covering my flesh with infinitesimal 

 bitings. I thought I should have to flee to the 

 friendly fumes of the old stable, with " one stocking 

 off and one stocking on; " but I got my shoe on at 

 last, though not without many amusing interrup- 

 tions and digressions. 



In a few moments after this adventure I was in 

 rapid retreat toward camp. Just as I reached the 

 path leading from the shanty to the creek, my com- 

 panion in the same ignoble flight reached it also, 

 his hat broken and rumpled, and his sanguine 

 countenance looking more sanguinary than I had 

 ever before seen it, and his speech, also, in the 

 highest degree inflammatory. His face and forehead 

 were as blotched and swollen as if he had just run 

 his head into a hornets' nest, and his manner as 

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