FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 215 



encountered him. When at length the fish halted, 

 which he did with singular suddenness, and more 

 seemingly by way of whim than from fatigue, I began 

 to make calculations as to the possibility of securing 

 him before night, seeing that the afternoon was already 

 far advanced, and my situation in the uninhabited and 

 swampy moor, should darkness happen to overtake me, 

 was not to be regarded as one altogether free from 

 peril. 



" Being, however, unwilling to break from the 

 chance I possessed of capturing a trout so enormous, 

 I found it necessary to put in practice some means, in 

 order to rouse him as quickly as possible from the 

 lethargic and immoveable position assumed by him 

 after his recent exertions ; as, without doing so, I had 

 110 likelihood of so fatiguing the fish as to obtain a 

 speedy conquest over him. Accordingly, I committed 

 myself with great caution to the water which, be it 

 remarked, was deep, rapid, and, as to the footing it 

 afforded, not a little precarious. Scarcely, indeed, had 

 I advanced three paces, before I found myself engulphed 

 waist-high, and on the point of being carried downward 

 by the strength of the current ! 



" At this moment, however, a sudden strain on my 

 line indicated the intentions of the fish to renew his 

 run ; whereupon, more regardful of him than of my 

 own peril, I only clenched my rod with the greater 

 vigour, and relying on the strength of tackle with 

 which I happened to be provided, actually suffered 



