and pulled it up the river with a
towing rope, while a minnow was cast from the boat.

Hardy had taken a travelling rug for Helga to sit on, and Nils Nilsen
towed the boat up the river, while Hardy fished with a minnow and
caught a few trout. When they reached the shallows, which Hardy
usually fished with a fly, he sent the boys on land to cast from the
bank, and Nils Nilsen took the pole to punt the boat slowly down the
stream. The trout rose freely for about an hour, and Helga had charge
of the landing-net, and lost for Hardy several good fish, to Nils
Nilsen's great disgust. She saw the long casts Hardy made, the light
fall of the fly on the water, while a slight motion of the line threw
the flies repeatedly on the surface of the river like real flies, and
as soon as a trout rose the line was tightened with a sudden motion,
and the trout drawn gradually to within reach of the landing-net.

"May I try, Herr Hardy, to throw the line for the Fish?" asked Helga.

"Certainly," replied Hardy, and he shortened the line to allow her to
do so.

Her first attempt was to hook Hardy's cap; her next was to hook Nils
Nilsen by the ear.

"It seems so easy to do," said Helga, as she handed Hardy the rod, who
showed her how to cast the line as well as he was able.

"You will fish better from the bank, where it is not necessary to cast
such a long line," said Hardy. "We will try a little lower down."

Helga followed his instructions, and at length hooked a trout, which
Hardy picked out with the landing-net.

"I do so like this sort of fishing," said Helga; "it is the way a lady
should fish, if she fished at all."

"Many English ladies are good fly fishers," said Hardy; "and I have
seen them catch salmon in Norway. I will, with pleasure, leave my rods
and tackle here, if you would like to fish with Axel; he can show you
how to attach the flies to the line, and anything else necessary."

"Thank you so much!" replied Helga; and as she raised her eyes to his,
with her handsome face lit up by exercise, Hardy saw how beautiful she
was. Her manner towards him had changed. She talked freely to him now,
and without reserve.

"We will put a mark on the trout you have caught," said Hardy, "that
we may know it again after it has been in the frying-pan. The Herr
Pastor does not often eat fish of his daughter's catching. It weighs
just half an English pound."

"How can you tell?" asked Helga.

"I guess it to be so; but we will soon