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Show FISHERMAN'S LUCK Twice he tried to cut the leader across a sunken ledge. But at last he was played out, and came in quietly towards the point of the rock. At the same moment Ferdinand appeared with the net. Now, the use of the net is really the most difficult part of angling. And Ferdinand is the best nets man in the Lake St. John country· He never makes the mistake of trying to scoop a fish in motion. He does not grope around with aimless, futile strokes as if he were feeling for something in the dark. He does not entangle the dropper-fly in the net and tear the tail-fly out of the fish's mouth. He does not get excited. He quietly sinks the net in the water, and waits until he can see the fish distinctly, lying perfectly still and within reach. Then he makes a swift movement, like that of a mower swinging the scythe, takes the fish into the net head-first, and lands him without a slip. I felt sure that Ferdinand was going to do the trick in precisely this way with my ouananiche. Just at the right instant he made one quick, steady swing of the arms, and-the head of the net broke ~lean 50 THE THRILI.ING MOMENT off the handle and went floating away with the fish in it! All •eemed to be lost. But Ferdinand was equal to the occasion. He seized a long, crooked stick that lay in a pile of driftwood on the shore, sprang into the water up to his waist, caught the net as it drifted past, and dragged it to land, with the ultimate ouananiche, the prize of the season, still glittering through its meshes. This is the story of my most thrilling moment as an angler. But which was the moment of the deepest thrill? Was it when the huckleberry bush saved me from a watery grave, or when the log rolled under my feet and started down the river? Was it when the fish rose, or when the net broke, or when the long stick captured it? No, it was none of these. It was when the Krikaree sat with his legs tucked under him on the brink of the stream. That was the turning-point. The for·· tunes of the day depended on the comparative quickness of the reflex action of his neural ganglia and mine. That was the thrilling moment. 51 |