260 A YEAR OF liberty; or, 



perseverance in what I could not but regard as factious opposition, 

 provoked me greatly. However, I held my peace, feeling sure that 

 the hour of my triumph was at hand. 



" It's a red salmon, master." 



" Are you sure it is not a cod ? " 



Even as the words came from my lips the line grew suddenly 

 slack, there was a slight plash, and then a dull sound as of a falling 

 body, and hope, doubt, and fear were alike at an end. My companion 

 was correct, and our first prize for the day proved to be a fine fish 

 of nearly 141b. Somehow I had not associated Lough Esk with 

 salmon, and had limited my expectations to white trout or a 

 ferox or two, so this unusual good fortune put us in the highest 

 spirits. The light air still held up, and was just sufficient to 

 produce the smallest possible curl on the water. We had yet 

 between two and three hours before us ; as evening came on, the 

 trout rose well, and when in the dusk we landed at the bridge fifteen 

 of these fish had been added to the bag. They were, however, no 

 longer the stout silvery creatures they had been six weeks before ; 

 they, like the year, were passing into the sere and yellow ; a darker 

 shade had fallen heavily on each ; bodies had become thinner, heads 

 and fins seemed to have grown larger ; in fact, they were rapidly 

 getting out of season, and this change was more marked in the lake 

 than on the river. 



During the remainder of our stay at Donegal the weather con- 

 tinued too fine for first-rate angling, yet each day was spent either 

 on the Inver or the Lough. On the former, when there happened 

 to be a good breeze, we were able, by the aid of very small black 

 and red palmers, olives, clarets, and fiery browns, to get a few 

 trout ; but the full harvest of this lovely mountain river is only to 

 be reaped when the rain-clouds from the Atlantic are brooding over 

 the hills, and when a thousand rivulets are pouring their tribute of 

 brown water into the main channel. On the lake we did better, 

 picking up with the troll many a good ferox, no one of which, how- 

 ever, exceeded 6lb. in weight. Nor did we ever walk home in the 

 gloaming without a fair load of white trout, amply sufficient to 



