SALMON-FISHING. 79 



that bargain with him ! But the opportunity of 

 even that compromise is past. It's intolerable. I 

 don't believe the Stoics ever existed ; if they did 

 they must have suffered more than even I do in 

 bottling up their miseries. They did feel ; they 

 must have felt — why pretend they didn't ? Zeno 

 was a humbug ! Anyhow, none of the sect ever 

 lost a salmon like that ! What ! "A small sorrow ? 

 Only a fish!" Ah, try it yourself! An old lady, 

 inconsolable for the loss of her dog, was once referred 

 for example of resignation to a mother who had lost 

 her child, and she replied, " Oh, yes I but children are 

 not dogs!" And I, in some sort, understand her. 

 So, in silent gloom I follow Ole homewards. 



Not darkness, nor twilight, but the solemn yellow 

 hues of northern midnight gather over the scene ; 

 black and forbidding frown the precipices on either 

 side, save where on the top of the awful Horn — 

 inaccessible as happiness — far, far beyond the reach 

 of mortal footstep, still glows, like sacred fire, the 

 sleepless sun ! Hoarser murmurs seem to arise from 



