FISHERMAN'S LUCK 127 



I need not say that I regard this simple state- 

 ment as the highest compliment that could be 

 paid the "A. A." 



But the consolation to be derived from reading 

 that little book was not needed ; it came in another 

 and quite unexpected way, the whole aspect of 

 affairs was suddenly changed. "Despondency 

 vanished and the river glistens with the beams of 

 rising hope." 



" My immediate duty was to get within casting 

 distance of that salmon as soon as possible. The 

 way along the shore of the pool was difficult. 

 The bank was very steep, and the rocks by the 

 river's edge were broken and glibbery. Presently 

 I came to a sheer wall of stone, perhaps thirty 

 feet high, rising directly from the deep water. 

 . . . The ledge in the rock now came to an end, 

 but below me in the pool there was a sunken reef, 

 and on this reef a long log had caught, with one 

 end sticking out of the water within jumping 

 distance. It was the only chance. To go back 

 would have been dangerous. An angler with a 

 large family dependent on him has no right to 

 incur unnecessary perils. Besides, the fish was 

 waiting for me in the pool ! So I jumped ; landed 

 on the end of the log ; felt it settle slowly down ; 

 ran along it like a small boy on a see-saw, and 

 leaped off into shallow water just as the log rolled 

 from the ledge and lunged out into the stream. . . . 

 The ' all ashore ' bell was not rung early enough. 

 I just got off with not half-a-second to spare." 



