DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 117 



water shallowed ; and there it found the fish, which 

 came towards me with such a dash that I had no 

 chance to strike or even to feel him, but my float 

 was being held under and I could therefore hope 

 that the opportunity would come by his going from 

 me with the bait still in his jaws. He did so, and 

 the vigour of my jerk and pull caused him to turn 

 back, and I thus lost touch of him for a time ; a 

 lengthy time I thought it, during which I held 

 my breath and my brain was busy with conjectures 

 as to what might have given way ; but the winch 

 and rod soon solved the problem by gathering in the 

 slack, when the fish, objecting to being held, made a 

 bolt down stream. Fortunately, he hesitated when 

 on the shallowing edge to determine whether he 

 should leave the pool or not, and this gave me 

 my chance to get clear of the tops of a withy bush 

 that was an obstacle to my following him down. 

 On he went over the broadening shallows with the 

 speed not so much of a hurried beast as of one who 

 hoped to shake off his trouble on his arrival at the 

 pool he was bound for, but the shallowing water 

 through which he had to plough his way, often 

 with tail half out of water, as I held on him from a 

 bank high above, proved too much for him, and he 

 came upon his side when close to the deep, reedy 

 spot he had struggled so hard to reach. 



His lordship's factor, who stood talking with the 

 artist, appeared delighted at seeing the "big beast," 

 as he called it, taken from where only trout and 

 grayling were desired. 



That was a very successful day, for the editor had 

 several good fish and the artist nearly as many, but 

 my nineteen-pound fish proved to be the heaviest. 



