PRINCE RICARDO. I45

 

great stupid oaf,—her pretty hair!) then from
the landing-net; but Dick had grown sulky.

“It’s no use,” he said; ‘‘I have not a fly
that will suit. Let’s go home,” and he threw
a tin can at a rising trout.

“Now, Dick,” said Jaqueline, “‘ you know I
can help you. I did not learn magic for nothing.
Just you look the other way for a minute or two,
and you will find the right fly at the end of your
line.”

Dick turned his head away (it is not proper
to look on at magical arts), and then in a
moment, saw the right hook on his cast;
but Jaqueline was not in the boat. She had
turned herself into an artificial fly (a small
black gnat), and Dick might set to his sport
again.

“What a trump that girl is,” he said aloud.
“Clever, too!” and he began casting. He got
a trout every cast, great big ones, over a pound,
and soon he had a basketful. But he began to
feel rather bored.

‘‘There’s not much fun taking them,” he
said, ‘‘when they are so silly.”

At that very moment he noticed that the fly
was off his cast, and Jaqueline was sitting at
the oars.

“You see, Ricardo,” she said, ‘‘I was right
after all. There is not much pleasure in
sport that is easy and certain. Now, apply
this moral to dragon-killing with magic in-

’