DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 189 



head is indifferent to its surroundings, you may 

 sometimes cast across a number of fish and now 

 and then have the luck to see one come from the 

 stern of a stone and seize your lure. This was 

 what happened to me when the snow lay deep on 

 the shelving narrow ledge down which, after ascend- 

 ing the ladder, I ought to have found my way to 

 the level of the river about eighty yards down- 

 stream. There was no delay there often is on 

 the part of the fish in realising that he was attached 

 to danger. He was off instantly for the " Long 

 Ladder Pool," thus enabling me to give him all 

 I dared, and I dared so much that he was glad to 

 turn as he neared the head of the pool without 

 making an effort to reach the falls. His journey 

 back was a leisurely one, and then he faced the 

 stream again as if waiting to ask: "Where is my 

 enemy now ? " A smart strike set him off up-stream 

 again, as I desired it should, with the result that 

 he tired more quickly than on the former occasion 

 and was quickly back to the stone from which he 

 had issued at the minnow's invitation. His reluct- 

 ance to move now made me fear an entanglement 

 and I gave him a jerk, which moved him again, 

 but, to my dismay, it was down-stream that he 

 rattled out the line until I feared he would be over 

 the shallows and amongst the high boulders about 

 100 yards below. 



Now was the time for " up the ladder and clamber 

 along the narrow ledge and down." But I had 

 determined not to try that passage while the snow 

 was there so I called to the sailor to go down, with 

 the hope that I might bring the fish near enough 

 to the side for him to gaff. My position did not 



