SALMON-FISHING 367 



tail formed by the junction of two off-sets from 

 the big rock, there is a roll, a tug, followed by a 

 shriek of the reel as the line goes whizzing out, 

 and we are hard and fast in a fresh-run fish. No 

 ' kelt ' this time, and as he swings back from 

 his rush, and feels the steel in his jaws, he gives 

 a mighty bound up-stream, his lustrous sides 

 glistening in the bright, spring sunlight, sending 

 the spray right and left as he again strikes the 

 water. 



Anxious moments these ! The least kink or 

 fouling of the line would ruin everything, and so 

 rapid have been his rush and return that it has 

 been a difficult matter to reel up fast enough. 

 He means to get rid of that hook or die hard, 

 and so, as a last resource, he works his way 

 doggedly up-stream to the foot of the rock, and 

 there remains, sulking and immovable as the 

 rock itself, against which he is endeavouring to 

 cut the gut casting-line. Moved he must be, or 

 he will succeed in his efforts ; but move he will 

 not. At last one of a few well-directed stones 

 thrown by the gillie goes unpleasantly near his 

 nose as it sinks to the bottom, and, with another, 

 but steadier rush than the first, he turns down- 

 stream. And now it is a hard matter to keep 

 pace with him, as he swings down the rapids 

 and heads for a smaller pool lower down ; there 

 his strength begins to fail ; each effort grows 

 weaker, till he is at length brought round into 

 the still backwater, and in another minute or two 



