130 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



half-pound fish each of them, — a string which a 

 man might contemplate with pride. We paused 

 a moment to give John time to inspect the tackle 

 to see if it was all right. The trout had made 

 sad work with the flies. The largest and strongest 

 came out of their mouths bare to the shank. Five 

 ruined flies lay with the five captured trout on 

 the bottom of the boat. 



" Mr. Murray," said John at length, as he sat 

 looking at the mangled flies ; " have n't you some- 

 thing larger ? These trout are regular sharks." 



" Nothing," replied I, running over the leaves 

 of my fly-book, " except these huge salmon-flies " ; 

 and I held half a dozen gaudy fellows out to- 

 ward him, the hooks of which were nearly two 

 inches in length, covered with immense hackle of 

 variegated floss, out of whose depths protruded 

 a pair of enormous wings, and brilliant with hues 

 of the ibis and the English jay. 



" Let 's try one, anyway," said John, laugh- 

 ing. " Nothing is too big for a fish like that ! " 

 and he nodded his head toward a deep swirl made 

 in the water as a monstrous fellow rose to the sur- 

 face, closed his jaws on a huge dragon-fly that had 

 stopped to rest a moment on the water, and, throw- 

 ing his tail, broad as your hand, into the air, darted 

 downward into the silent depths. " There," con- 

 tinued he, as he tossed the tuft of gay feathers 

 into the air, " that 's the first pullet's-tail I ever 



