About Sixteen Miles Up - Almost In The Mountains - Was General Crook's
Favorite Fishing Ground, And When He Was In Command Of The Department
He And General Stanley, Who Also Is An Expert Fisherman, Came Here
Many Times, Consequently General Stanley Is Familiar With The Country
About Here.
The evening after my splendid catch, General Stanley said
that he would like to have Mrs. Ord and me
Go with him up the stream
several miles, and asked if I would be willing to give Mrs. Ord the
stream, as she had never used a fly, adding that she seemed a little
piqued because I had caught such fine fish. I said at once that I
would be delighted to give her the lead, although I knew, of course,
that whoever goes second in a trout stream has very poor sport. But
the request was a compliment, and besides, I had caught enough fish
for a while.
The next day we made preparations, and early on the morning of the
second we started. The department commander had gone to Omaha on
official business, so he was not with us, and Faye did not go; but the
rest of the party went twelve miles and then established a little camp
for the day, and there we left them. Mrs. Ord and I and General
Stanley, with a driver, got on a buckboard drawn by two mules, and
went five miles farther up the stream, until, in fact, it was
impossible for even a buckboard to go along the rocky trail. There we
were expected to take the stream, and as soon as we left the wagon,
Mrs. Ord and I retired to some bushes to prepare for the water. I had
taken the "tuck" in my outing skirt, so there was not much for me to
do; but Mrs. Ord pulled up and pinned up her serge skirt in a way that
would have brought a small fortune to a cartoonist. When we came from
the bushes, rods in hand, the soldier driver gave one bewildered
stare, and then almost fell from his seat. He was too respectful to
laugh outright and thus relieve his spasms, but he would look at us
from the side of his eye, turn his face from us and fairly double
over - then another quick look, and another double down again. Mrs. Ord
laughed, and so did I. She is quite stout and I am very thin, and I
suppose the soldier did see funny things about us. We saw them
ourselves.
I shall never forget my first step in that water! It was as chilling
as if it had been running over miles of ice, and by comparison the
August sun seemed fiery; but these things were soon forgotten, for at
once the excitement of casting a fly began. It is almost as much
pleasure to put a little fly just where you want it, as it is to catch
the fish. My rod and reel were in perfect condition - Faye had seen to
that - and my book of flies was complete, and with charming companions
and a stream full of trout, a day of unusual pleasure was assured.
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