AN ANGLER'S PARADISE 121 



when he jumped, looked a mere baby by the side 

 of this one ! He must be forty pounds surely." 



" Yes, yes," replied Ronald, wagging his head 

 gravely, " he will be aal that ! — forty pounds — or 

 thirty pounds, whatever," he added with a return 

 to native caution. 



It was with an anxious heart that I raised the 

 point of the good rod after that horrid jump. The 

 line tightened ; the fish was still on. Quickly was 

 that fifty yards taken off the reel, but slowly, inch 

 by inch, as in a tug-of-war, had I to fight to regain 

 it once more. At last the fish was again close up 

 to the boat, and again was commenced that stately 

 procession around the loch. 



What was to be done? Evidently nothing but 

 to possess the soul in patience. How I wished now 

 that I had changed the cast I It was past the hour 

 of our return, and the fish had begun to sulk. But 

 what angler would think of dinner with a thirty- 

 pound salmon attached to the end of his line? 



All that could be done to rouse the monster was 

 done. And in the end the simple expedient of tap- 

 ping the extremity of the butt of the rod with a small 

 stone was successful. Away he went again, to the 

 accompaniment of the raucous shrieking of the reel. 



