t he almost broke the rod, to
his amazement; for, instead of whipping the fly lightly out of the
water, he dragged a trout of a pound weight violently up on the bank.

"Bravo!" cried Stanley, laughing heartily at his friend's stare of
mingled wonder and amazement,--"bravo, Frank! I'm no fisher myself, but
I've always understood that fish required a little play before being
landed. However, you have convinced me of my ignorance. I see that the
proper way is to toss them over your head! A salmon must be rather
troublesome to toss, but no doubt, with your strong arms, you'll manage
it easily, hey?"

"Why, what an appetite they must have!" replied Frank, answering his
friend's badinage with a smile. "If the little fellows begin thus, what
will not the big ones do?"

As he spoke, he disengaged the fish and threw it down, and made the next
cast so rapidly, that if another trout was waiting to play him a similar
trick, it must have been grievously disappointed. The line swept
lightly through the air, and the fly fell gently on the stream, where it
had not quivered more than two seconds when the water gurgled around it.
The next moment Frank's rod bent like a hoop, and the line flew through
the rings with whirring rapidity, filling these lonely solitudes for the
first time with the pleasant "music of the reel." Almost before Frank
had time to take a step in a downward direction, fifty yards were run
out, the waters were suddenly cleft, and a salmon sprang like a bar of
burnished silver twice its own height into the air. With a sounding
splash it returned to its native element; but scarcely had its fins
touched the water, when it darted towards the bank. Being brought up
suddenly here, it turned at a tangent, and flashed across the pool
again, causing the reel to spin with renewed velocity. Here the fish
paused for a second, as if to collect its thoughts, and then coming,
apparently, to a summary determination as to what it meant to do, it
began steadily to ascend the stream, not, indeed, so rapidly as it had
descended, but sufficiently so to give Frank some trouble, by means of
rapidly winding up, to keep the line tight. Having bored doggedly
towards the head of the rapid, the fish stopped and began to shake its
head passionately, as if indignant at being foiled in its energetic
attempts to escape. After a little time, it lay sulkily down at the
bottom of the pool, where it defied its persecutor to move it an inch