Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/9

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JOE WAYRING AT HOME

OR

THE STORY OF A FLY-ROD.


CHAPTER I.

IN WHICH I INTRODUCE MYSELF.


I AM called "Old Durability"; but for fear my name may prove misleading, and cause those of my readers who are not acquainted with me to fall into the error of supposing that I am a very aged article, I desire to say, at the outset, that I am only four years old, and that I have been in active service just sixteen months. During that time I have seen a world of excitement and adventure, and have performed some exploits of which any fly-rod might be justly proud. I have hooked, at one cast, and successfully landed, two black bass, weighing together eight and a quarter pounds; I have so often been dumped in the cold waters of mountain