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have another run or two, though, thank goodness, 

 he had not sufficient strength left to gain the heavy 

 stream. At last he came to the surface, and I drew 

 him straight to the pebbles, slipped my fingers into 

 his gills and raced for camp with a five-pounder. 

 How we enjoyed that wretched fish ! It was 

 delicious. I even apologised to Thorgrimmer for 

 doubting his word as to the size of the Laxa fish, and 

 he assured me in reply that I would get better ones 

 than that the next day. 



On the following day, Geoff went down-stream 

 and I up the river. We each found a good swim, 

 and by midday had had enough of the flies and the 

 fishing. The place I had selected was a rippling 

 shallow in the centre of the stream, and I had to 

 wade above my knees to reach the place where the 

 fish were lying and then throw a long line. The 

 trout were not numerous, but were all big, and seldom 

 refused the grilse-sized Silver Doctor, which seemed 

 to have an especial attraction for them. The only 

 troubles were the flies, which were, of course, 

 maddening in the heat of the day, and the fact that 

 I only had a light eleven-foot trout rod. There 

 is little doubt that with a salmon or grilse rod twice 

 as many fish would have been taken, for the time 

 occupied in playing each fish on such light material 

 was not less than ten minutes or a quarter of an 

 hour, though it certainly prolonged the amusement. 

 When we met, Geoff had seven fish and I had eight — 

 my best over six pounds — weight of all about 

 seventy pounds. Such fishing is not to be had 

 every day, so we decided to make another attack 

 on the trout, especially as an old farmer appeared 

 and begged us to catch some for his winter supply, 



