SCOTTISH SALMON-FISHING 180 



where the country was open. Here, too, was a 

 small semi-backwater, and I thought that if I could 

 force the fish into this calm area he would no longer 

 have the dead weight of the stream to help him. 

 An attempt at such methods, however, only seemed 

 to arouse the devil in this extraordinary fish, and 

 again he took fright, and so the men had to pull 

 at full speed to keep on terms with him at all. In the 

 last three big runs he had taken us fully a mile 

 and a half below the spot where I had hooked him, 

 and in the stream itself he did just what he liked, 

 setting the pace and direction. 



" Mechty me, he gaen to tak us ower the Linn o' 

 Campsie," ejaculated the nervous Jimmy. 



" Na, na," said the phlegmatic Haggart. " We'll 

 hae him before he's doon tae Stobhall." 



But pull him out of the stream I could not without 

 the risk of a break, and so the hours went by, and 

 more and more slowly we continued our descent of 

 the river, till we reached the bottom of the Meiklour 

 water, and evening came on. 



Here at last I got some force to bear on my 

 gallant opponent, and letting him go into the 

 stream, we rushed the boat till nearly level with the 

 fish, and then, applying force, swung him nolens- 

 volens into a big, slow-moving side-swirl. He tried 

 to regain the current, but I just managed to head 

 him back. Again and again he sought the centre 

 of the river, and each time his runs became less 

 frequent and with less power. Even then he 

 remained in this pool for over an hour and a half, 

 until after one final spurt the top of the rod did its 

 work, and up to the surface came a great tail. A 

 groan escaped us all, for we knew then the reason 



