Salmon Fishing. 151 



gone, gone for a million ! and he's smashed me in spite of all. What will 

 the Doctor say ? and it's all my own fault, too. The line, sorely strained 

 in that desperate fight at the Ledges, went at a knot, and had I tried it, 

 as I ought to have done, I must have detected it, when I should now 

 perhaps have heen breaking my shins over those dark rocks that look 

 so formidable in the gloaming. By jingo ! if he had gone down, though, 

 in the dark ! that is another side of the picture certainly. As for the 

 Doctor, all the consolation I got out of him was that he rather rejoiced 

 than otherwise; "for," said he, "you'll remember that fish now for 

 ever, whereas, had you bagged Mm, you'd have forgotten all about it in 

 a year or two." 



I didn't quite agree with him, though I still think what an awful 

 journey it would have been down that rock-strewn path. 



"A POWERFtTL PRKACHBB." 



