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uecessavy for canyiiig' the salmon, later on. There had 

 been a tremendous lot oi: water down, but the marks showed 

 that the flood had fallen some fifteen or sixteen feet since 

 the rain ceased. A more perfect fly-fisherman's river I 

 never saw, alternating- as it did between turbulent broken 

 runs and deep pools ; and the colour was none too high for 

 a g-ood sized fly, with some jungle cock in the wing. Dan 

 and Flyn took turns with the sack and having- casts with 

 my spare salmon rod ; and we tramped along, ankle-deep 

 in the spongy, soddened ^and which fringed the banks. So 

 fierce are the floods which this little river carries oft that in 

 many places the stream has cut a channel for itself from 

 twenty to thirty feet deep, and in those lengths the going on 

 the banks was veiy much better. But it was stiff work, 

 and when we had been pegging away at it some four hours, 

 without either seeing or touching a fish, I began to think 

 it time we halted and re])aired the wasted tissue. Dan and 

 Flyn ate and drank their shares in ominous silence ; but 

 the latter had not given up hope — he still believed that 

 Avhen Ave reached that "carry" we should fill the sack with 

 salmon. Thus encouraged, we started afresh ; first mount- 

 ing smaller flies, for the water was much shallower where 

 we had now got to. But nothino- could we move. 

 Presently a ruined mill was discovered in the distance, and 

 this Mas hailed as the vicinity of the "carry" on which all 

 cur hopes were centred. Upon getting within sight, we 

 found four or five men stroke-hauling in the pool at the 

 weir tail, and as many more armed with gaffs wading and 

 AAaiting for any fish that attempted to run up the weir ! In 

 all, there were ten or a dozen of these poachers at work ; and 

 they went on quite unconcerned by our presence. Poor old 

 Flyn AAa;' in despair — his last hope of a fish had desertid 

 liim ! To interfere with, or even to remonstrate with, these 

 poaoherr would have been sheer madness in such a lonely 

 locality, so we sat ourselves down and watched their pro- 

 ceedings, packing up our rods meanwhile. That they had 

 killed a lot of fish was cpiite evident, for there was a blood- 

 stained patch on the sward where a heap of salmon had bern 

 rec(>ntly lying. When our approach was signalled, no 



