108 Fish Stories 



boat, to come in with a rush, faster than I could reel, to stop, 

 and balk and protest high into the balmy air. 



As nearly all these rainbows had a trick of charging the 

 boat, my companion had pulled lustily for the open water, 

 away from the deep shadows of the aspens, out into the 

 open bay, where the white dome of the distant mountain 

 rested upside down ; and in this mimic snow-bank I played 

 the rainbow, brought it to the quarter ; then my companion 

 dropped the oars and stood by with the net. But not yet; 

 the sharp-eyed fish was outfought, but not caught. It 

 balked at the deadly thing, and made a splendid rush away, 

 and tugged and resisted, testing every inch of line, leader 

 and rod with sturdy hammering blows in the full abandon 

 of its second wind. Again I reeled it in; again it broke 

 away, then after fifteen or twenty minutes of fighting, I 

 brought it in, my companion netted it in gallant fashion, 

 and lifted it in. 



You have, perhaps, never seen a big rainbow fresh from 

 the icy pools of its choice. Know, then, that this fish, 

 this seven-pounder which I held upon the scales, was a 

 thing of beauty, a joy forever beyond dispute. Its back was 

 well sprinkled with ocelot-like black spots ; the color a deep 

 green, the lower surface silver, while over all seemed drawn 

 a filmy gauze of some old-rose fabric, of inexpressible deli- 

 cacy and beauty, which was intensified along the median line 

 in a band of pink and rose and other tints that produced all 

 the colors of the rainbow, and gave this radiant creature 

 rank among the birds of brilliant plumage. 



This was luck of a special quality, and taking the oars, I 

 pulled in shore, back to the deep shadows, and held the skiff 

 while my companion cast; giving a notable exhibition of 

 cleverness and skill in placing the large fly exactly where he 

 wished, seventy-five or eighty feet away. No line or leader 

 struck the clear water first here; only the gentle dropping 

 of the lure, imitating the dash of some insect, which, before 

 it could rise, would be seized by the voracious rainbow, that 



