30 Fishcraft 



swirl and a leap and a strike followed, 

 and my first salmon was hooked with 

 a thud ! which told me as plainly as if 

 the operation had transpired within 

 the range of my vision, that if I lost 

 him it would be my own fault. When 

 thus assured, there was excitement, 

 but no flurry. My nerves thrilled 

 and every muscle assumed the ten- 

 sion of well-tempered steel, but I 

 realized the full sublimity of the oc- 

 casion, and a sort of majestic calm- 

 ness took the place of the stupid unc- 

 tion which followed the first appari- 

 tion. My untested rod bent under 

 the pressure, in a graceful curve; my 

 reel clicked out a livelier melody than 

 ever came from harp or hautboy, as 

 the astonished fish made his first 

 dash; the- tensioned line emitted 

 Aeolian music as it stretched and 

 stiffened under the strain to which it 

 was subjected; and for fifty minutes 

 there was such a giving and taking, 

 such sulking and rushing, such leap- 

 ing and tearing, such hoping and fear- 

 ing, as would have 'injected life into 

 the ribs of death/ made an anchorite 



