84 SALMON FISHING 



become rich -green. The atmosphere, which had 

 ceased to be stagnant, had in it a joyous tune. So 

 had the river. It was three feet higher than it had 

 been for many weeks. Islands of sand and gravel 

 that had been familiar all that time were no longer 

 seen. The water was over them. It was over 

 meadows and a few fields also. Dark, gurgling, 

 gushing, sparkling in the sun, what a spectacle the 

 river was ! 



It was really a river now. We had said no word 

 against it throughout the summer, knowing that it 

 could not help itself, and that the fish, though 

 extremely difficult to find, must be somewhere ; but 

 in truth it had been a secret sorrow. One of the 

 largest in the kingdom, it had dwindled so much 

 that it seemed little more than a burn. Now it was 

 itself again, large and lusty, in fitting proportion 

 to the rugged land through which it flows ; no longer 

 dwarfed by the spaciousness of its own bed ; brawling 

 in the narrow passes, lingering impatient in the pools. 

 It was the right thing in the right place. It had 

 restored order and harmony. It carried to all the 

 land along its course a sense of animation. The 

 very cereals of the fields looked livelier because the 

 river had risen in its might. Humanity also was 

 quick in response to the vivifying touch of autumn. 

 From castle and cot it went eagerly forth with rods 

 and lines and lures. It was not disappointed. The 

 fish had been expecting the flood. They had long 

 been exiled, and sulky, in the recesses of their 

 domain ; and they exulted in the freedom which the 



