The Lucky Piece: A Tale of the North WoodsPaine, Albert Bigelow
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The Lucky Piece: A Tale of the North Woods
Paine, Albert Bigelow
Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Love stories
He turned and followed the stream with his eye. It seemed a succession
of falls and fascinating pools, and the pools grew even larger and more
enticing. He could not resist trying just once more, and when another
goodly trout was in his creel and then another, all else in life became
hazy in the joy of following that stream from fall to fall and from pool
to pool--of dropping those gay little flies just in the particular spot
which would bring that flash and swish, that delightful tug, and the
gayly speckled capture that came glancing to his feet. Why not do his
fishing now, in these morning hours when the time was right? Later, the
sport might be poor, or none at all. At this rate he could soon fill his
creel and then make his way up the mountain. He halted a moment to line
the basket with damp moss and water grasses to keep his catch fresh.
Then he put aside every other purpose for the business of the moment,
creeping around bushes, or leaping from stone to stone--sometimes
slipping to his knees in the icy water, caring not for discomfort or
bruises--heedless of everything except the zeal of pursuit and the zest
of capture--the glory of the bright singing water, spilling from pool to
pool--the filtering sunlight--the quiring birds--the resinous smell of
the forest--all the things which lure the feet of young men over the
paths trod by their fathers in the long-forgotten days.
The stream widened. The pools grew deeper and the trout larger as he
descended. Soon he decided to keep only the larger fish. All others he
tossed back as soon as taken. Then there came a break ahead and
presently the brook pitched over a higher fall than any he had passed,
into a larger stream--almost a river. A great regret came upon the young
man as he viewed this fine water that rushed and swirled among a
thousand bowlders, ideal stepping stones with ideal pools below. Oh,
now, for a rod and reel, with a length of line to cast far ahead into
those splendid pools!
The configuration of the land caused this larger stream to pursue a
course around, rather than down the mountain side, and Frank decided
that he could follow it for a distance, and then, with the aid of his
compass, strike straight for the mountain top without making his way
back up stream.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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