27 



remembered that the ducks were eating his oats, and rushed 

 oft' to save the crop ! 



Of all the narrow- squeaks that ever befell me in angling, 

 about the worst was one which happened yesterday. I had 

 been fishing our big river that was running two feet above 

 its ordinary height, and the water was somewhat too dark 

 for fly, except upon the shallows, where a big Jock Scot or 

 a black and gold of the largest size sometimes scored. 

 Truth to tell, we had for several days previously been 

 reduced to the use of big spoons and silver Devon minnows 

 in the bog-coloured water, and had met with but little 

 success. 



On the morning of which I am now writing I found 

 myself some half-dozen miles down stream, below my 

 quarters, paddling upwards a small canoe against a power- 

 ful current, and trailing a gold spoon from a short salmon- 

 rod, in the wake of the boat. Now I am by no means an 

 expert canoeist, and it soon became apparent to me that I 

 had quite as much as I could do to get the crazy little 

 craft along, without the dead pull of that long line and big 

 spoon over the stern. Just as I was on the point of banking 

 her, to wind up the tackle, there was a tremendous pull on 

 the bait, and the winch flew round at a wild rate. The nose 

 of the canoe was at once grounded, the paddle dropped, and 

 the rod got into fighting position ; but the fish had, mean- 

 time, shot across to the opposite side of the river, with a 

 hundred yards of line out. Pressing him all that one could 

 safely, some of the bellied line was recovered, and then it 

 became apparent that the fish had found shelter in a leaf- 

 covered branch, about six feet long, that had come down 

 with the flood and got stranded. What was I to do ? You 

 cannot ])addle a canoe and handle a salmon-rod at one and 

 the same time ; and after debating the " pros " and " cons " 

 •for some minutes, I decided to push of¥ the little canoe and 

 wind her across stream by the salmon-Avinch. It appeared 

 feasible to me at the time, because the line was firmly fixed 

 on the opposite side, and my utmost strength had failed to 

 move the branch to which it was fast Of course I assumed 



