at once sank to the
bottom, and sulked. It is the most dangerous mood of a trout; for you
cannot tell what he will do next. We reeled up a little, and waited five
minutes for him to reflect. A tightening of the line enraged him, and he
soon developed his tactics. Coming to the surface, he made straight
for the boat faster than I could reel in, and evidently with hostile
intentions. "Look out for him!" cried Luke as he came flying in the air.
I evaded him by dropping flat in the bottom of the boat; and, when I
picked my traps up, he was spinning across the lake as if he had a new
idea: but the line was still fast. He did not run far. I gave him the
butt again; a thing he seemed to hate, even as a gift. In a moment the
evil-minded fish, lashing the water in his rage, was coming back again,
making straight for the boat as before. Luke, who was used to these
encounters, having read of them in the writings of travelers he had
accompanied, raised his paddle in self-defense. The trout left the water
about ten feet from the boat, and came directly at me with fiery eyes,
his speckled sides flashing like a meteor. I dodged as he whisked by
with a vicious slap of his bifurcated tail, and nearly upset the boat.
The line was of course slack, and the danger was that he would entangle
it about me, and carry away a leg. This was evidently his game; but I
untangled it, and only lost a breast button or two by the swiftly-moving
string. The trout plunged into the water with a hissing sound, and went
away again with all the line on the reel. More butt; more indignation on
the part of the captive. The contest had now been going on for half an
hour, and I was getting exhausted. We had been back and forth across
the lake, and round and round the lake. What I feared was that the trout
would start up the inlet and wreck us in the bushes. But he had a new
fancy, and began the execution of a manoeuvre which I had never read of.
Instead of coming straight towards me, he took a large circle, swimming
rapidly, and gradually contracting his orbit. I reeled in, and kept my
eye on him. Round and round he went, narrowing his circle. I began to
suspect the game; which was, to twist my head off.--When he had
reduced the radius of his circle to about twenty-five feet, he struck
a tremendous pace through the water. It would be false modesty in
a sportsman to say that I was not equal to the occasion. Instead of
turning round with him, as he expected, I stepped