The Lure of the Rainbow 113 



its wild rushes, stemmed its plunges as well as I could, yet 

 twenty minutes passed before I could safely reel the fish to 

 the quarter where, as it surged ahead, we could, for the first 

 time, note its full proportions. 



Then seeing the boat, recognizing the enemy, it plunged, 

 and I was forced to give line for fifty feet, when I rounded 

 it up, and slowly reeled it in, and again had the fish on the 

 quarter, while my comrade manned the net, and I endeav- 

 ored to lead the game into its toils. Never did it show the 

 white feather; not once did it stop struggling, or shaking 

 its massive head ; always bearing off, trying to break away, 

 hammering on the delicate line sturdy, menacing blows. 



But there is a limit to even a big trout, and in a lucky 

 moment the net slipped beneath it, and struggling, gleaming 

 like a real rainbow, the fish was lifted in, its misery ended, 

 and held up by the angler that all might see its glorious tints 

 and color; then the scale was hooked into its mighty jaw, 

 and as the trout swung, the pointer stopped at a little less 

 than ten pounds — " glory enough " for one day, week or 

 year, for that matter, the only regret being that the game 

 was not taken with a fly, the lure being a little spinner which 

 I had used for black bass on the St. Lawrence, and which 

 was not much larger or more conspicuous than a shining, 

 newly-minted picayune. 



This fish, which in its best condition must have been a 

 fifteen-pounder (I have had legal and expert advice on this 

 point), was two feet one inch in length (I generally say 

 three feet when telling the story), and seven inches in height 

 at the widest portion. Its proportions were beautiful; its 

 eye clear, its tail big and suggestive of power. Its skin 

 was very light — delicate greenish-mauve, if there is such a 

 tint, spotted with diminutive ocelot-like markings over the 

 back, the sides old rose, gleaming with all the splendors of 

 abalone — altogether a thing of beauty, a thing to talk about 

 on winter nights far away, where it may be seen on the 

 walls of the Tuna Club in the vale of Avalon. 



