452 



RECREATION 



roots by a few inches. Another scream, 

 and that was too much for me. My 

 bashfulness was forgotten, and I 

 rushed to her help. 



" 'Help me get him out, please. My ! 

 but he's a big one/ she said. 



"The long looked for battle with my 

 big trout was at hand, and I scarcely 

 glanced at the girl as I took the swayin' 

 rod from her hand. The rod was a 

 slender iron-wood, straight and elastic, 

 with long seasonin'. There were no 

 reels in those days, and that fish was 

 pullin' like a yearlin' calf. I had to 

 meet his rushes by wadin' into the 

 stream. 



c 'Be careful,' warned the girl from 

 the shore, 'the line is an old one.' 



" 'All right,' I answered, with a firm- 

 ness in my voice which was unusual 

 when I addressed girls in those days, as 

 I coaxed the fish to make a mad rush 

 up stream against the strong current. 



"Up and down the long pool I rushed, 

 followin' that half-crazed fish, for I 

 didn't dare put any severe strain on the 

 frayed cotton line. Twice the trout 

 leaped full-length from the water — a 

 flash of silver in a shower of spray. 

 Never have I felt the thrill of those 

 few moments since. The fish was never 

 so mad as to forget that his only safety 

 lay in breakin' the tackle an' gettin' 

 under the bank. The slender iron-wood 

 creaked warningly when I butted him 

 to stop the rushes. My hope was to 

 get him into shaller water where his 

 strength would be hampered — and he 

 seemed to know my purpose. 



"Once he sulked, and, I drew him 

 slowly almost within reach of my hand, 

 but the sight of me made him madder 

 than ever, and I was wet to the waist 

 in keepin' him away from the roots. 



"I caught a glimpse of the girl stand- 

 in' close to the shore, one hand up to 

 her face, and the other twisted in her 

 gingham apron. Her eyes followed 

 every motion of the rod and line, and 

 fairly danced with the pleasure that 

 only a true trout-fisher knows. 



"Twice the big fish swam with the 

 speed of an arrow completely around 



me as I stood in the center of the 

 pool. I kept his head pointed away 

 from the bank, and his efforts were 

 useless. Gradually his strength failed, 

 until the rod was almost straight. 

 Then I led him towards the shallers. 

 Every few feet he burrowed his big head 

 in the gravel, tryin' to rub out the bit- 

 in' hook. 



"I hauled him close to the shore, and 

 the girl slipped her small fingers in his 

 gills and the next instant the famous 

 trout of Elm pool lay gaspin' on the 

 grass, far from the shelter which had 

 been his home so long. 



"I even forgot to be embarrassed as 

 we knelt beside the fish and pointed out 

 his beauties. Every hue of a rainbow 

 showed bright in his colorin's. The 

 belly and fins were scarlet. The back 

 was a deep, dark-brown, with wide, 

 black mottlings. The sides were silver- 

 white, with big, blood-red spots in faint 

 purple settin's. The warped and crook- 

 ed jaws were armed with long, sharp 

 teeth, and the inside of the huge 

 mouth was almost black. The blue gills 

 and heavin' sides told all too plainly how 

 bravely he had fought. 



' 'Ain't he a beauty, Miss?' I asked, 

 and looked up into a big pair of soft- 

 brown eyes. My old bashfulness re- 

 turned, and I felt the blood surging to 

 my face. 



" 'Beautiful. It seems almost a shame 

 to catch him, doesn't it?' she answered 

 enthusiastically, and her frank question 

 put me at my ease again. 



" 'Funny that, now, almost fifty years 

 after, I should remember every detail 

 of that hour. I can see the girl now 

 as she sat beside me on the grass, the 

 big trout between us. The mornin' sun 

 was just flashin' on the water. Some 

 of her dark hair had escaped its fasten- 

 in', when she first hooked the trout, and 

 now fluttered around her face, a face 

 still flushed with the excitement of 

 the catch. Scarlet lips parted over 

 strong, white teeth. From the top of 

 her head to the bottom of her feet she 

 was the purtiest girl I have ever seen, 

 and a perfect stranger to me. 



