28 



that the .salinon was <i()Ue, and that the bij^' spoon had got 

 sfcurely uucliori'd. But my j)Uin did not Avoik out satis- 

 facton'l}', for no sooner was the boat in the swift current, 

 than she was swept down stream, the strain on the lino 

 dragged the branch afloat, and away the whole lot went 

 towards the weir, barely two hundred yards below us ! The 

 next few seconds were about as exciting as could well be 

 imagined ; for tlie I'od had gone overboard, and A\as hang- 

 ing over the side, attached by a. lanyard lound my waist, 

 and I was paddling frantically for the bank. The nose of 

 the little craft grounded not twenty yards short of the 

 dreaded weir. In less time than it takes to write this 

 description I was on " terra firma," with the rod up, and 

 rushing round below the fall to see what had become of that 

 wretched branch. There was the horrid thing, bobbing 

 about close u]) to the wall of the weir, at times floating out 

 two or three yards, and then being drawn back by the under 

 suction of that seething water. Winding in the line, every 

 inch of which had been run off my reel, I put a stead}- strain 

 on the oft'eiiding bough, and eventually got it away down 

 t-tream. In a shallow shelving bay the bough was stranded, 

 and then, to my great astoiushment, I discovered that the 

 salmon was still on I He had got two turns of the treble 

 spinning-trace round a springy branch, which had yielded 

 to his struggles and prevented him getting a direct pull. 

 The salmon was quite dead, i;nd he proved to be a nice 

 bright fish of fifteen pounds, with the sea lice on him. As 

 I had done quite enough boating for one morning, the canoe 

 was haided up, I tramped home, carrying the rod and fish, 

 and all the way it kept running through vij head that some- 

 thing very like a fluke had saved me from losing the number 

 of mv mess. 



