NORWAY AND ITS SEA TROUT 221 



only hope for the best. The best happened, and in a 

 moment or two A. came up the grassy slope with a 

 glorious sea trout of 12 Ib. impaled upon the gaff. It 

 was a mystery that the ending was of this kind, for on 

 the shoulder of the fish there was a rip quite six inches 

 long, where the gaff, on its errand of failure a few 

 moments before, had shockingly scored the flesh. " A 

 good one for the last," I said, " now we will go home " ; 

 and homewards we went, calling at the boat on our 

 way down to string up the rest of the spoil, which I 

 counted and weighed there and then, and, as I inti- 

 mated earlier, found that it was exactly the record of 

 my other best day in August eleven fish (but all sea 

 trout) weighing 34 Ib. 



Having written so much of this last day with the 

 sea trout, I find on inquiry that there is no sign of H. 

 yet, and that dinner will not be ready for at least 

 another hour. I therefore amuse myself by going 

 through my daily record, to tot up the gross returns. 

 We are very curiously fashioned, inside as well as out, 

 and although, considering the adverse circumstances 

 which I have not failed to describe, I ought to be con- 

 tented, I find myself grieving. Will the reader guess 

 for a moment why ? I will save his time by stating 

 that it is because upon adding up the daily jottings of 

 my notebook, I find that I leave off just 5 Ib. short of 

 400 Ib. ninety-eight fish totalling 395 Ib., not includ- 

 ing sundry bags of brown trout. This is hard, but it 

 is too late now to make the gross weight even figures. 

 It is much too dark to go out again, the tide would be 

 all wrong if I did go out, yet had I known that I was so 

 near 400 Ib. I should have remained on that river until 

 I had made it up. 



The salmon fishing, I may take the opportunity of 

 adding, was a failure. But for the fact that we had 



