u 



mount his rider, but ah ! 'tis no avail! Again he bounds, 

 lashing the eddies of the dark stream into bright 

 bubbling streaks, and making the heart of his captor beait 

 high with anticipation of the desperate struggle that should 

 follow-, before the monster should lay panting and exhaust- 

 ed on the yellow sand or moist greensward. 



" Away ! with the rush of an eagle through the aiir, he is 

 gone like an arrow down the rapids — how the reel rings ; 

 and the line whistles from the swift working wheel, he is 

 too swift, too headstrong to be checked as yet, tenfold the 

 strength of that slender tackle might not control him in 

 his first fiery rush. 



" But Jasper, although young in years, was old in the 

 art and skilful as the craftiest of the gentle craftsmen. He 

 gives him the butt of his rod steadily, trying the strength 

 of his tackle with a delicate and gentle finger, giving him 

 line at every rush, yet firmly, cautiously, feeling his mouth 

 all the while, and moderating his speed even while ha 

 yields to his fury. 



" Meanwhile, with the eye of intuition and the nerve of 

 iron, he bounds along the difficult shore, he leaps from 

 rock to rock, alighting on their slippery tops with the firm 

 agility of the rope-dancer, he splashes knee-deep through 

 the slippery shallows keeping his line ever taut, inclining 

 his rod over his shoulder, bearing on his fish with a killing 

 pull, steering him clear of every rock or stump against 

 which he would fain smash the tackle, and landing him at 

 length in a fine open roomy pool, at the foot of a long 

 stretch of white and foamy rapids, down which he has 

 just piloted him with an eye of faith, and with a foot of 

 instinct. 



