ar and
friendly relation to one. We were at the head of the best fishing.
There was an old bark-clearing not far off which afforded us a daily
dessert of most delicious blackberries,--an important item in the
woods,--and then all the features of the place--a sort of cave above
ground--were of the right kind.

There was not a mosquito, or gnat, or other pest in the woods, the cool
nights having already cut them off. The trout were sufficiently
abundant, and afforded us a few hours' sport daily to supply our wants.
The only drawback was, that they were out of season, and only palatable
to a woodman's keen appetite. What is this about trout spawning in
October and November, and in some cases not till March? These trout had
all spawned in August, every one of them. The coldness and purity of
the water evidently made them that much earlier. The game laws of the
State protect the fish after September 1, proceeding upon the theory
that its spawning season is later than that,--as it is in many cases,
but not in all, as we found out.

The fish are small in these streams, seldom weighing over a few ounces.
Occasionally a large one is seen of a pound or pound and a half weight.
I remember one such, as black as night, that ran under a black rock.
But I remember much more distinctly a still larger one that I caught
and lost one eventful day.

I had him on my hook ten minutes, and actually got my thumb in his
mouth, and yet he escaped.

It was only the over-eagerness of the sportsman. I imagined I could
hold him by the teeth.

The place where I struck him was a deep well-hole, and I was perched
upon a log that spanned it ten or twelve feet above the water. The
situation was all the more interesting because I saw no possible way to
land my fish. I could not lead him ashore, and my frail tackle could
not be trusted to lift him sheer from that pit to my precarious perch.
What should I do? call for help? but no help was near. I had a revolver
in my pocket and might have shot him through and through, but that
novel proceeding did not occur to me until it was too late. I would
have taken a Sam Patch leap into the water, and have wrestled with my
antagonist in his own element, but I knew the slack, thus sure to
occur, would probably free him; so I peered down upon the beautiful
creature and enjoyed my triumph as far as it went. He was caught very
lightly through his upper jaw, and I expected every struggle and
somersault would break