2^6 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 



of the Holy Isle ; whence, judghig from his appearance, he 

 had but recently arrived. This, however, it was not my 

 intention to permit, as my line wonXd scarcely have uncoiled 

 so far : accordingly when he had run out about forty yards, 

 I gradually pulled him up, as he was getting into broken 

 water, where I could not well follow him. Round he 

 turned, and back he came as gracefully as might be, and 

 so swiftly that I had difficulty in winding in. He 

 repeated this two or three times, during which I was 

 sometimes on the bank, and sometimes in the river; some- 

 times wading in shallows, andsometimes followinghiminto 

 water much too deep, as I soon found to my cost by the 

 increased weight of my stockings. Finally, after a 

 struggle which lasted considerably over an hour, he 

 seemed to be getting exhausted, and I led him towards 

 the shallow bay for the purpose of attempting to land 

 him. Several times he turned tail upon the bay and 

 dashed back into the deep water, each time, however, with 

 less vigour. On the last occasion when I was wearing him 

 in, he turned perpendicularly upon his nose, evidently for 

 the purpose of rubbing it against the gravel at the bottom. 

 Most anglers will know what this means ; but in my case 

 I could not prevent it, as I dared not put more strain 

 upon the tackle than it was already bearing, otherwise 

 breakage would have been inevitable. On his coming 

 up, I sav/ between my line and his snout, a small branch 

 attached, which had not a reassuring effect. Immediately 

 after this, on my making another attempt to get him to 

 the side, and probably increasing, though but slightly, 

 the strain upon the line, the hook, having no doubt worn 



