146 Salmon Fishing. 



the corner of a railway carnage, to warble to 

 himself the sentimental words of the song 



" Thou art gone from my sight, like a beautiful dream !" 



To lose a fish you cannot help feeling you 

 have a certain right to, after a fight abounding 

 in incidents, and terminating within a fraction of 

 success in your favour, is a real trial of temper 

 which few who have not experienced it can at 

 all understand. 



Often and often have I battled with Salmo- 

 Salar for more than an hour at a time in fair 

 fight, without any fouling of line or fly, and 

 come off second best in the end ; so that I could 

 well sympathise with the discomfited soldier. 



Of one of these struggles, more prolonged 

 even than usual, I still retain a most vivid 

 recollection. And though mortified beyond 

 measure after having been so cruelly baffled, 

 admiration of the brave fish that gave me such 

 a beating suggested the following lines : 



