PISC A TOR AND VENATOR 187 



from its case, points out the stag, and tells him to 

 ' take time.' And then supposing that an easy chance 

 is missed, or, still worse, that a stag is wounded and 

 escapes to die a lingering death, what moment is 

 there in the fisherman's experience to compare with 

 the utter misery of such a failure ? One may lose a 

 salmon and possibly suspect that it is one's own fault, 

 although it is not very often that one can trace one's 

 loss directly and certainly to any sin of omission or 

 commission ; but at least one has the assurance that the 

 fish is none the worse, that if he has taken your fly he 

 will have soon extracted the hook by a simple surgical 

 operation with the assistance of some rock at the 

 bottom of the pool, and will be ready for another 

 tussle in a day or two if you should have the good 

 luck to encounter him again. It is a disagreeable 

 moment, no doubt, when the line comes back slack 

 after an hour or more with what is, of course, the fish 

 of the season, but I usually feel that it is kismet, and 

 recover my equanimity after a very brief interval of 

 lamentation. 



Another advantage I claim for fishing is that 

 it can be, and is, pursued up to extreme old age. A 

 few veterans like Horatio Ross have continued to 

 go deer-stalking very late in life ; but I have myself 

 known scores once devoted to that sport who have 



