After a moment's pause we would draw them
slowly up, and when half or two thirds of the way to the top the trout
would strike, when the sport became lively enough. Most of our fish
were taken in this way. There is nothing like the flash and the strike
at the surface, and perhaps only the need of food will ever tempt the
genuine angler into any more prosaic style of fishing; but if you must
go below the surface, a shotted leader is the best thing to use.
Our camp-fire at night served more purposes than one; from its embers
and flickering shadows, Uncle Nathan read us many a tale of his life in
the woods. They were the same old hunter's stories, except that they
evidently had the merit of being strictly true, and hence were not very
thrilling or marvelous. Uncle Nathan's tendency was rather to tone
down and belittle his experiences than to exaggerate them. If he ever
bragged at all (and I suspect he did just a little, when telling us how
he outshot one of the famous riflemen of the American team, whom he was
guiding through these woods), he did it in such a sly, round-about way
that it was hard to catch him at it.
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