Out sailed the trout from under the bank, but
stopped before reaching the sinking worm. There was a certain something
in his action which seemed to indicate a disgust at the sight of such
plebeian food, and a fear seized me that he might now swim off, and pay
no further attention to my varied baits. Suddenly there was a ripple in
the water, and I felt a pull on the line. Instantly I struck; and then
there was a tug. My blood boiled through every vein and artery, and I
sprang to my feet. I did not give him the butt; I did not let him run
with yards of line down the brook; nor reel him in, and let him make
another mad course up stream; I did not turn him over as he jumped into
the air; nor endeavor, in any way, to show him that I understood those
tricks, which his depraved nature prompted him to play upon the angler.
With an absolute dependence upon the strength of old Peter's tackle, I
lifted the fish. Out he came from the water, which held him with a
gentle suction as if unwilling to let him go, and then he whirled
through the air like a meteor flecked with rosy fire, and landed on the
fresh green grass a dozen feet behind me. Down on my knees I dropped
before him as he tossed and rolled, his beautiful spots and colors
glistening in the sun. He was truly a splendid trout, fully a foot long,
round and heavy.
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