20 LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 



above the pool, hardly being in position before cries 

 came from the gillies, telling us they could feel fish 

 striking the net. Immediately afterwards there were 

 plenty of fish of all sizes trying to dash past us up 

 the shallow, or bolting under banks and boulders to 

 hide themselves as they caught sight of us. Eight and 

 left the spears were plied, sometimes victoriously, but 

 oftener missing, while with a sharp rattle the metal 

 prongs dashed against the stones. Amid shouts of 

 " There he goes ! " more than one of us fell souse into 

 the water, or could be seen standing aghast, with arms 

 tingling from finger-tips upwards at the shock caused 

 by a bad stroke, having violently speared a rock instead 

 of a fish. As by degrees the net was worked round to 

 the shelving side of the river, quitting our places we ran 

 forward to see the contents, when, behold ! from the pool 

 I had vowed was empty, out there came ten good salmon 

 of from nine to sixteen pounds, together with some 

 thirty-five sea trout. 



In a similar manner other pools were visited, and by 

 the time the best of them had been netted, twenty-eight 



