no AT FISHING 71 



although the two boatmen have backed water rapidly 

 as the great fish pursued his headlong course down the 

 stream. In the meanwhile I have rapidly reeled up 

 the other lines to prevent the entanglement which oc- 

 casionally at this kind of sport necessitates two men 

 playing the same fish, both sometimes ignorant till 

 near the conclusion of the fight to which it really 

 belongs. Miller has now guided the boat to a con- 

 venient landing-place, and the excited sportsman is 

 assisted on to the bank, with many injunctions to be 

 especially careful as he steps to land. And now the 

 conditions become the same that I have previously 

 described, and there is no incident of a particularly 

 exciting character, till a fine twenty-one pounder is 

 duly gaffed and weighed, for although the point of the 

 rod is occasionally dropped too low, and there are 

 moments of a slack line and awkward strain, the 

 fish has been firmly hooked, and could only have been 

 lost by criminal awkwardness or great ill-fortune. 

 Then we recommence operations highly elated with 

 the good beginning and proceed through the day, 

 one of us being occasionally landed to cast in any 

 of the very few places which lend themselves to such 

 an operation and if the- performance is one which 

 does not call for any great physical or intellectual 

 effort, I can affirm that two very elated individuals 



