triangles, was as much a marvel as ever it has been from the beginning.
In the course of half an hour I had three such abortive runs at the
phantom, and one small fellow of 1 1/2 lb., lightly hooked, bounded
into the air and fell back free. Under these circumstances there was
little thought of discomfort. Who cared for cramp now? The fish were
assuredly on the move, and that one 'lunge of my modest desire was not
so remote a possibility as it had been in the forenoon. The chances of
friend A. were of course held by Master Ben to be the best of the two,
and, in truth, why not? For reasons hinted at above it would have
delighted me if it was left for him to prove how unnecessary were all
the finer precautions of scientific sport. Such things have happened
in salt water, and, it may be, in fresh.

Musingly, as the canoe was proceeding midway between island and
mainland, I was thinking of examples of the caprices of piscatorial
fortune and of the positive instances when art and skill had been
practically put to shame by the rudest methods. From the reverie, and
a crouching position on the low seat of the miserable canoe, I was
roused as by an electric shock. The rod was jerked downwards almost to
the water, the winch flew, and the line, run out at express speed, cut
into my forefinger. A., facing me, saw from my expression that
something had happened, and, with the instinct of a sportsman, began to
pull in his sash-cord and coil it neatly out of the scene of action.

"I have him," I said by way of assurance, and Ben realised that the
whirring scream of the winch was not a mere private rehearsal. Growing
excited he began to give me directions how to behave under the
circumstances, taking it for granted that the rod and line would fulfil
all his prophecies of disaster and failure. By the backing of small
line, which was now for the first time being rushed off the reel, I
knew that my game had in the preliminary dash not stopped under eighty
yards, and it seemed therefore as if the great fish that plunged on the
surface away in the wake, and leaped 5 ft. or 6 ft. into the air, could
have no connection whatever with us. I had seen that kind of thing
before, however, with salmon and sea trout, and tingled with joy at the
evidence I presently had that the tumble back into the lake had not
parted me from my game. Ben noticed as quickly as I did that the line
presently slacked, and called Heaven to witness that the da