THE SALMON. 31 



as if the operation had transpired within the range of my vis- 

 ion, that if I lost him it would be my own fault. When thus 

 assured, there was excitement, but no flurry. My nerves 

 thrilled and every muscle assumed the tension of well-tem- 

 pered steel, but I realized the full sublimity of the occasion, 

 and a sort of majestic calmness took the place of the stupid 

 inaction which followed the first apparition. My untested 

 rod bent under the pressure in a graceful curve; my reel 

 clicked out a livelier melody than ever emanated from harp 

 or hautboy, as the astonished fish made his first dash; the 

 tensioned line emitted ^Eolian music as it stretched and stif- 

 fened under the strain to which it was subjected; and for fifty 

 minutes there was such giving and taking, such sulking and 

 rushing, such leaping and tearing, such hoping and fearing, as 

 would have 'injected life into the ribs of death,' made an 

 anchorite dance in very ecstasy, and caused any true angler 

 to believe that his heart was a kettle-drum, every sinew a 

 Jew's-harp, and the whole frame-work of his excited nerves a 

 full band of music. And during all this time my canoe-man 

 rendered efficient service in keeping even pace with the 

 eccentric movements of the struggling fish. 'Hold him head 

 up, if possible,' was the counsel given me, and 'make him 

 work for every inch of line. ' Whether, therefore, he took 

 fifty yards or a foot, I tried to make him pull for it, and then 

 to regain whatever was taken as soon as possible. The 

 result was an incessant clicking of the reel, either in paying 

 out or in taking in, with an occasional flurry and leap which 

 could have been no more prevented than the on-rushing of 

 a locomotive. Any attempt to have suddenly checked him 

 by making adequate resistance would have made leader, line, 

 or rod a wreck in an instant. All that it was proper or safe 

 to do was to give each just the amount of strain and press- 

 ure it could bear with safety not an ounce more nor an 

 ounce less and I believe that I measured the pressure so 

 exactly that the strain upon my rod did not vary half an 



