-hole, and I was perched
upon a log that spanned it ten or twelve feet above the water. The
situation was all the more interesting because I saw no possible way
to land my fish. I could not lead him ashore, and my frail tackle
could not be trusted to lift him sheer from that pit to my
precarious perch. What should I do? call for help? but no help was
near. I had a revolver in my pocket and might have shot him through
and through, but that novel proceeding did not occur to me until it
was too late. I would have taken a Sam Patch leap into the water,
and have wrestled with my antagonist in his own element, but I knew
the slack, thus sure to occur, would probably free him; so I peered
down upon the beautiful creature and enjoyed my triumph as far as it
went. He was caught very lightly through his upper jaw, and I
expected every struggle and somersault would break the hold.
Presently I saw a place in the rocks where I thought it possible,
with such an incentive, to get down within reach of the water: by
careful manoeuvring I slipped my pole behind me and got hold of
the line, which I cut and wound around my finger; then I made my way
toward the end of the log and the place in the rocks, leading my
fish along much exhausted on the top of the water. By an effort
worthy the occasion I got down within reach of the fish, and, as I
have already confessed, thrust my thumb into his mouth and pinched
his cheek; he made a spring and was free from my hand and the hook
at the same time; for a moment he lay panting on the top of the
water, then, recovering himself slowly, made his way down through
the clear, cruel element beyond all hope of recapture. My blind
impulse to follow and try to seize him was very strong, but I kept
my hold and peered and peered long after the fish was lost to view,
then looked my mortification in the face and laughed a bitter laugh.

"But, hang it! I had all the fun of catching the fish, and only miss
the pleasure of eating him, which at this time would not be great."

"The fun, I take it," said my soldier, "is in triumphing, and not in
being beaten at the last."

"Well, have it so; but I would not exchange those ten or fifteen
minutes with that trout for the tame two hours you have spent in
catching that string of thirty. To _see_ a big fish after days of
small fry is an event; to have a jump from one is a glimpse of the
sportsman's paradise; and to hook one, and actually have him under
your control for