to the bow, braced
myself, and let the boat swing. Round went the fish, and round we went
like a top. I saw a line of Mount Marcys all round the horizon; the
rosy tint in the west made a broad band of pink along the sky above the
tree-tops; the evening star was a perfect circle of light, a hoop of
gold in the heavens. We whirled and reeled, and reeled and whirled. I
was willing to give the malicious beast butt and line, and all, if he
would only go the other way for a change.

When I came to myself, Luke was gaffing the trout at the boat-side.
After we had got him in and dressed him, he weighed three-quarters of
a pound. Fish always lose by being "got in and dressed." It is best to
weigh them while they are in the water. The only really large one I ever
caught got away with my leader when I first struck him. He weighed ten
pounds.

IV. A-HUNTING OF THE DEER

If civilization owes a debt of gratitude to the self-sacrificing
sportsmen who have cleared the Adirondack regions of catamounts and
savage trout, what shall be said of the army which has so nobly
relieved them of the terror of the deer? The deer-slayers have somewhat
celebrated their exploits in print; but I think that justice has never
been done them.

The American deer in the wilderness, left to himself, leads a
comparatively harmless but rather stupid life, with only such excitement
as his own timid fancy raises. It was very seldom that one of his tribe
was eaten by the North American tiger. For a wild animal he is very
domestic, simple in his tastes, regular in his habits, affectionate in
his family. Unfortunately for his repose, his haunch is as tender as his
heart. Of all wild creatures he is one of the most graceful in action,
and he poses with the skill of an experienced model. I have seen the
goats on Mount Pentelicus scatter at the approach of a stranger, climb
to the sharp points of projecting rocks, and attitudinize in the most
self-conscious manner, striking at once those picturesque postures
against the sky with which Oriental pictures have made us and them
familiar. But the whole proceeding was theatrical.

Greece is the home of art, and it is rare to find anything there natural
and unstudied. I presume that these goats have no nonsense about them
when they are alone with the goatherds, any more than the goatherds
have, except when they come to pose in the studio; but the long ages of
culture, the presence always to the eye of the best m