THE basses: fres h-w ater and marine 



cut yet changing outlines as the foliage of the 

 trees waved to and fro, " the gloom of the even- 

 tide " reaching out for thirty yards from the shelv- 

 ing and grassy margin of the river. 



Our anglers chose the dense patches of shade, 

 giving preference to the httle eddies that whirled 

 around the miniature rocks which here and there 

 dotted the broad reach of the quiet waters ex- 

 tending from the " Sentinels " down to the " Old 

 Fish Weir." 



Midway between those two water-marks a few 

 small boulders were tumbled together, over and 

 through which the water purled and foamed into 

 baby rifts, which were soon lost in the gentle flow 

 of the river. Just at this point a pebbly bar, its 

 bold head forming a little island, cropped out from 

 the surface, baring its front to the flowing waters, 

 which, with dying swirls induced by the rapids 

 above, swept around its stony sides. Within a 

 yard or two of its outer end the flash of a feed- 

 ing bass and the sheen of a herd of skipping 

 minnows caught the keen eye and ear of the 

 Doctor, and quicker than thought his favorite fly 

 lit searchingly a few feet behind the fish. 



Behind the fish — because a hungry bass, when 

 dashing into shallow water after the frightened fin- 

 gerlings, returns to the deeper pool instanter — he 

 lingers not a moment, but back again to his lair 

 until his prey gathers once more upon the shoals. 



110 



