THE CONTEST 115 



gang ahint, gang ahint ! " These contradictory 

 exclamations I could have excused, as I believe 

 they were warranted by the sudden turns of the 

 fish ; but the fellow had absolutely the temerity to 

 attempt to take my rod from me, whereat I lashed 

 out behind, and gave him sundry kicks, as strong 

 and hearty as could be managed with my degenerate 

 shoes. 



I did shorten my line a little, however; but 

 the water pressed against it so heavily that I could 

 not extricate it as I wished. I had now receded 

 to the shore, and gained, as I thought, the victory. 

 Being resolved to be canny, I fixed my eyes 

 intently upon the point where the line dipped into 

 the water, under which I conceived the fish to be ; 

 but to my surprise I caught a glimpse of my play- 

 fellow with the tail of my eye, springing out of 

 the water, and towing my tackle after him about 

 twenty yards above the spot where I conceived 

 him to be. I was in a perfect tremor ye gods, 

 how I did shake ! But that did not last long, as 

 the line all of a sudden vaulted into the air, and 

 streamed abroad like the lithe pennon on a ship- 

 mast, being, at a rude guess, about twenty yards 

 minus of its pristine proportions. This was all 

 magic to me at the time magic of the most dis- 

 tressing sort ; but in after days I saw what my 

 error was. I knew that it consisted in giving out 

 too much line at first, which would have been 

 unnecessary, had I stepped back at once on the 

 channel, kept my rod aloft, and ran down the 

 river-side with my fish, still keeping above him. 

 This, as has been seen, I did not do ; but kept 



