CH. VI. LARGE SALMON HOOKED. 97 



like a dog worrying a rat : but knowing that he 

 was well hooked, and, indeed, not caring much 

 whether I lost him or not, I kept so tight a rein 

 on him as prevented his either slacking the line or 

 rubbing off the hook, small as it was. Suddenly a 

 new idea seemed to seize him, and shooting straight 

 upwards, he leaped several times out of the water 

 immediately below me. But this would not do ; 

 so finding that he could not get rid of the hook, 

 he again rushed across the river, making the handle 

 of the reel spin at a railway pace. He then made 

 down the stream as fast as he could. I had scarcely 

 any line left on my reel, so had to take a leap off 

 the rock and follow him along the bank of the river. 

 Presently we came to a rather rapid but not high 

 fall, full of broken stones, and altogether a place 

 where he would be sure" to break my line if he once 

 got into it, which he seemed determined to do, so 

 here I halted and made a stand against all his 

 pulling. The fish began to feel beat, and ran in 

 again almost under my feet. 



Not succeeding in slacking the line, he again 

 rushed right across and took the fall, in spite of all 

 I could do to prevent him. He did not cut my line 

 as I expected, but it gave way close to the end, 

 within a few inches of the reel, and before I could 

 catch hold of it I had the pleasure of seeing the 



VOL. I. H 



