essly--depends largely upon the "feel" of
the strike.

At the outset I knew that if my fish escaped, it would not be because
he was not well hooked; and, with this assurance, the play began. He
took to the swiftest water at the first dash; he fairly leaped over the
rapids at the foot of the pool, the canoe following with the speed of a
race-horse, for half a mile, when he cried a halt, much to my
satisfaction, for was I not entrusted with the finest rod that had ever
wet its tip in the Cascapedia? Unlike my old companion, with which I
had fought an hundred such battles, I was ignorant of the strain this
elegant bamboo would bear, and so fought this battle as timidly as if I
had never before broken a lance or captured a salmon. But a necessity
was upon me. Its power of resistance must be tested, and the monster I
was fighting must be kept in hand, if every joint in the rod should be
reduced to splinters. So, ounce by ounce, the pressure was increased.
Every new rush of the fish was met by augmented resistance on my part,
until I found the rod capable of as hard work and as heavy a pressure
as I had ever placed upon any rod I had ever handled. With what
mathematical precision it curved from tip to reel! How grandly it took
the butt, and with what grace it resumed its original form when
relieved of an unusual pressure! To handle it soon became a delight,
and I found myself procrastinating the contest from the mere pleasure I
experienced in watching its perfect movement.

When at length I concluded to make a finish of the struggle, had placed
my canoe below the fish, and was gathering him in, by slow approaches,
not dreaming of disaster or defeat, the ferocious brute dashed for the
canoe, passing under it near the stern like a flash, and threatening to
make as complete shipwreck of the Judge's bamboo as the fish of the day
previously had made of my own lance-wood. But, like others before me, I
had learned from the enemy how to fight. The moment I saw what was
coming I threw my rod down parallel with the side of the canoe,
allowing the tip to extend beyond it, with the reel outward, so as to
give the line free play. The experiment was a success. The line
followed the fish without a hitch, and the beautiful rod remained
intact! The furious brute was outflanked, and, as if in despair, he
gave up the battle, and in ten minutes was gaffed.

The rod was a success. It had passed every ordeal grandly, and it was
handed back to i