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
clean off the handle and went floating away with the fish in it!

All seemed 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 Kri-karee sat with his
legs tucked under him on the brink of the stream.  That was the
turning-point.  The fortunes of the day depended on the comparative
quickness of the reflex action of his neural ganglia and mine.  That
was the thrilling moment.

I see it now.  A crisis is really the commonest thing in the world.
The reason why life sometimes seems dull to us is because we do not
perceive the importance and the excitement of getting bait.

TALKABILITY

A PRELUDE AND THEME WITH VARIATIONS

"He praises a meditative life, and with evident sincerity: but we
feel that he liked nothing so well as good talk."--JAMES RUSSELL
LOWELL: Walton.