88 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



reel — a present from the inventor some years 

 before — and the fish took out quite forty in his 

 big rush. I was afraid it was all up and that he 

 never was going to stop, but the previous strain 

 was beginning to tell on him, and even with my 

 light tackle I felt at length that I had the mastery. 

 I have been a trout fisher " a' me days," as they 

 say in the north, but I never have seen a trout 

 fight better or had grander sport with a fish than 

 with this big fellow. For some twenty minutes he 

 bored and rushed, jumped, jigged his head and 

 resorted to every device without once sulking, and 

 then at last showed side for the first time and began 

 the rolls of a spent fish. Geoff and Thorgrimmer 

 now came up and witnessed the last struggles of 

 the gallant fellow, but I would not allow either of 

 them to touch him, but worked him into the shallows 

 at my feet and threw him on the bank. When we 

 eventually got back to camp with the prize he was 

 found to turn the scale at ten pounds, the largest 

 trout I have ever caught with the fly. 



During our stay at Fiskivatn I noticed several 

 pairs of Whooper Swans swimming on the largest 

 of the lakes, and was anxious to secure a male to 

 see if there was any difference in the bill during 

 the winter and the nesting season; but the birds 

 were extremely shy, and during the day kept far 

 out in the middle of the lake quite out of range. 

 As we wended our way home along the lake-side 

 I suddenly noticed two snow-white dots far up on 

 the hill to our right. They were too white for 

 sheep, and the telescope soon revealed the fact that 

 they were a pair of barren swans feeding in a small 

 marsh. The stalk would be a difficult one, as 



