SALMO FONTINALIS. 



fish rose to break the monotony and in- 

 spire me with hope. I made several 

 casts, in a desultory manner, and at last 

 felt a tug at my line. For a moment I 

 thought my flies had struck a snag ; but 

 that notion was dissipated by the sud- 

 den whirr of my reel. The fly had been 

 taken under the water, from which I in- 

 ferred I had no mean adversary to 

 contend with ; and that, under such 

 unfavorable circumstances, it would re- 

 quire more than ordinary strategy and 

 maneuvering to land him : especially as 

 my cast was a fine one. The fish made 

 several desperate spurts and once rose 

 to the surface, made a loud splash and 

 went down again. It was* his last des- 

 perate effort. Just then I heard a voice 

 from the bush saying, "You have got a 

 big un there !" It proceeded from 

 John, who was looking for the raft. It 

 only then occurred to me that I had left 

 the landing net at the camp ; so I dis- 

 patched John with all speed for it. In 

 the meaniime I reeled up my trout, and 

 getting my fingers under his gills, 

 dropped him into my creel. He weighed, 

 on the following day, over three pounds 

 and might be considered a fine sample 

 of the Salmo fontinalis indigenous to 

 these waters. During the interval occu- 

 pied by John in bringing the net, I 

 caught four fine fish and only lost one. 

 They varied in weight from one to three 

 pounds. 



It was now broad daylight when I sat 

 down on a stone, lit my pipe and, as Pat 

 says, had a little conversation with my- 

 self. I cannot say I regretted the ab- 

 sence of my friend Snooks, much as I 

 valued his friendship and the wonder- 

 ful versatility of his conversational pow- 

 ers. I do not want a loquacious com- 

 panion when I am fishing. I can dis- 

 pense with the voice of the charmer 

 then, "let him charm ever so wisely." 



While I was enjoying my pipe, I 

 turned my eyes in an easterly direction 

 and there I espied my verdant friend 

 Snooks up to his waist in the lake, 

 whipping away at the water as though 

 he were threshing out grain on a barn 

 floor. I was just in the act of rising for 

 another cast when I heard a loud splash, 

 and turning, saw Snooks with his little 

 bamboo half doubled, hauling away at a 

 fine trout which he had brought to the 

 surface. How in the name of fate his 

 cast stood the strain I cannot say. It 



was almost a miracle. I shouted with 

 all the force of my lungs, 



" Give him the line !" 



He, in return, hallooed, or rather 

 groaned. 



" Bring me the net !" 



I answered his demand with all the 

 speed I could muster. Now Snooks 

 was standing on a large submerged 

 stone, which was covered with a slimy 

 substance peculiar to this lake. To re- 

 tain your footing in such a position re- 

 quires great care, otherwise your equi- 

 librium may be jeopardized. Snooks in 

 the excitement of the moment was mak- 

 ing some grotesque movements of his 

 body, arid as John afterward suggested, 

 " was dancing a hornpipe like a injun 

 rubber man." I called out, as I ap- 

 proached the scene : 



" Look out ! You'll get in," but in 

 vain. He was deaf to all counsel. I 

 felt that unless some special providence 

 intervened on his behalf he would come 

 to grief. My suspense was of brief dura- 

 tion. He slid ungracefully from his 

 ''perch into the water and for a moment 

 was lost to view. Then he bobbed up, 

 and in his efforts to recover his position, 

 performed some feats worthy of a sub- 

 marine acrobat. 



At last he stood on his feet with his 

 head and shoulders out of the water. 

 Through all his struggles he retained 

 his hold of his rod. Now, when a man 

 meets with a mishap, under the circum- 

 stances I have described, through his 

 own indiscretion, in the ordinary course 

 of nature some one or something has to 

 be blamed. Human nature finds a 

 solace in venting its superfluous spleen 

 on some irresponsible object, animate or 

 inanimate. The stone from which 

 Snooks had so suddenly disappeared 

 was duly anathematized in terms which 

 I regret to say were not in harmony 

 with his Sunday school training. Then 

 he poured forth his maledictions on my 

 unoffending head, for not, as he con- 

 tended, being sharper. 



"Now," said he, "through your loi- 

 tering, I have lost the finest fish in the 

 lake. I swear it weighed seven pounds 

 if it weighed an ounce." 



He might have prolonged this strain 

 to an indefinite period, but suddenly a 

 splash was heard, about ten feet from 

 where he stood, and, incredible as it 

 mavseem, his trout was still on the line. 



