FISHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 253 



pine boughs and heap on them to give us footing out of 

 water. The situation of the lake renders it very lovely, 

 as well as very lonely. I have already described it. 



It lies in a basin among lofty mountain-tops, and is 

 itself some three thousand feet above the sea. The pine- 

 fringed crests around form the edge of the basin, the 

 slopes being an unbroken mass of forest, except on the 

 north, where a huge, bare, rocky bluff rises about eight 

 hundred feet into the air. 



When the sun had disappeared behind the western 

 mountain crest, the scene was exceedingly beautiful. The 

 lonely pond was a mirror, all wind had gone down, and a 

 soft darkness seemed to fill the basin in which it la)', 

 while up above and down below the water, and all around 

 us, sun-lit peaks were standing out in a clear blue sky. 



I sat down on my floating island of pine boughs to 

 watch Dupont — for I believe I am sincere in saying that 

 I enjoy seeing another man throw a fly, if he is a good 

 and graceful sportsman, quite as much as doing it myself; 

 and there is no man's casting I like to see so well as my 

 friend Dupont's. The lake was crowded with small fish, 

 so that at every cast from one to a dozen would rise. 

 They were four-ounce fish, capital for the table, but not 

 what we wanted. At length, as he sent his tail fly over 

 toward the lily pads, there came that swift rush and swirl 

 in the water that is such music to the sportsman's ears, 

 and then the slender Norris rod bent as two pounds of 

 lively trout-flesh, fins and tail, were dragging it downward. 



If you desire to know what is fishing under difficulties, 

 try a light rod on a mountain pond, and cast from a log 

 raft covered with pine boughs. Dupont's fish fought hard 

 at a distance for a few minutes, then yielded to the steady 

 pressure of the rod in a skillful hand, and came slowly in. 



Z 



