A SLIGHT MISHAP. 145 



— *' tam Marti, qiiam Mercurio." But pray let me 

 interrogate you a little. Can you swim ? " 



" Swim ! no, not I ; why do you ask me that ? " 



'^ Because assuredly, if you do not take care, that 

 salmon will pull you into the water ; so be canny." 



There was an open laugh at this, and a look of defiance 

 at the fish. Rash youth ! you stretched forth your dex- 

 ter, and executed a well-directed stroke at the animal, 

 thinking to tuck him out of the water at one coup ; 

 but you had very considerably miscalculated your own 

 powers, and the weight you were to encounter. There 

 were two things decidedly against you ; one, that the 

 salmon Avas three feet long, and lay with his broadside 

 towards you, so that you had a heavy weight to lift, and 

 a considerable column of water to tlisjDlace ; the other, 

 that you were standing in a boat, and had an unstable 

 balance. Thus, you were tilted forward in a way with 

 which your will had nothing to do ; so that had not I, 

 even I, Harry Otter, laid hold of the skirts of your coat, 

 we should have been fishing with the long net for you : 

 as it was, the resistance only tlu'cw you prostrate in the 

 boat ; and I was sorry to see you so much incommoded 

 by the water which had not been ladled out of it : 

 inheriting all the valour of your ancestors, you still 

 grasped the cleik, and, as I pushed the boat ashore, 

 struggled your very best, tiU you dragged your prey to 

 firm land. 



He was not a clean salmon, nor was he the cause of 

 cleanliness in others ; but, as you may remember, ex- 

 ceeded twenty pounds. 



The success of a salmon fisher not only depends upon 

 L 



