A SLIGHT MISHAP. 165 



— " tam Marti, quain Mercurio." But pray let me 

 interrogate you a little. Can you swim ? " 



" Swim ! no, not I ; why do you ask me that ? " 

 " Because assuredly, if you do not take care, that 

 salmon will pull you into the water ; so be canny." 



There was an open laugh at this, and a look of 

 defiance at the fish. Rash youth ! you stretched forth 

 your dexter, and executed a well-directed stroke at the 

 animal, thinking to tuck him out of the water at one 

 coup; but you had very considerably miscalculated your 

 own powers, and the weight you were to encounter. 

 There were two things decidedly against you ; one, 

 that the salmon was three feet long, and lay with his 

 broadside towards you, so that you had a heavy weight 

 to lift, and a considerable column of water to displace ; 

 the other, that you were standing in a boat, and had 

 an unstable balance. Thus, you were tilted forward 

 in a way with which your will had nothing to do ; so 

 that had not I, even I, Harry Otter, laid hold of the 

 skirts of your coat, we should have been fishing with 

 the long net for you : as it was, the resistance only 

 threw you prostrate in the boat ; and I was sorry to 

 see you so much incommoded by the water which had 

 not been ladled out of it : inheriting all the valour of 

 your ancestors, you still grasped the cleik, and, as I 

 pushed the boat ashore, struggled your very best, till 

 you dragged your prey to firm land. 



He was not a clean salmon, nor was he the cause of 

 cleanliness in others ; but, as you may remember, 

 exceeded twenty pounds. 



The success of a salmon fisher not only depends upon 

 11 



