d sticking out of the water, within jumping distance. It was the only
chance. To go back would have been dangerous. An angler with a large
family dependent upon him for support has no right to incur unnecessary
perils.

Besides, the fish was waiting for me at the upper end of the pool!

So I jumped; landed on the end of the log; felt it settle slowly down;
ran along it like a small boy on a seesaw, and leaped off into shallow
water just as the log rolled from the ledge and lunged out into the
stream.

It went wallowing through the pool and down the rapid like a playful
hippopotamus. I watched it with interest and congratulated myself that
I was no longer embarked upon it. On that craft a voyage down the
Unpronounceable River would have been short but far from merry. The "all
ashore" bell was not rung early enough. I just got off, with not half a
second to spare.

But now all was well, for I was within reach of the fish. A little
scrambling over the rocks brought me to a point where I could easily
cast over him. He was lying in a swift, smooth, narrow channel between
two large stones. It was a snug resting-place, and no doubt he would
remain there for some time. So I took out my fly-book and prepared to
angle for him according to the approved rules of the art.

Nothing is more foolish in sport than the habit of precipitation.
And yet it is a fault to which I am singularly subject. As a boy, in
Brooklyn, I never came in sight of the Capitoline Skating Pond, after a
long ride in the horse-cars, without breaking into a run along the board
walk, buckling on my skates in a furious hurry, and flinging myself
impetuously upon the ice, as if I feared that it would melt away before
I could reach it. Now this, I confess, is a grievous defect, which
advancing years have not entirely cured; and I found it necessary to
take myself firmly, as it were, by the mental coat-collar, and
resolve not to spoil the chance of catching the only ouananiche in the
Unpronounceable River by undue haste in fishing for him.

I carefully tested a brand-new leader, and attached it to the line with
great deliberation and the proper knot. Then I gave my whole mind to the
important question of a wise selection of flies.

It is astonishing how much time and mental anxiety a man can spend on
an apparently simple question like this. When you are buying flies in a
shop it seems as if you never had half enough. You keep on picking out
a half-dozen of ea