Salmon Fishing. 159 



suddenly arrested by a voice that, I believed, 

 was addressed to me, though I could not dis- 

 tinguish the words. When I pulled up, and 

 looked whence the voice proceeded, I recognised 

 a fisherman, I must honestly confess, I had 

 taken no fancy to. He was one of a party 

 of four who, season after season, haunted the 

 banks of the river, and were as covetous of 

 plunder, as little pleasant to others, in their 

 daily search after it. In fact, they seemed to 

 have conspired among themselves to monopolise 

 a large part of the river that contained some 

 of its best pools and streams. It was of no 

 use to attempt to break through the monopoly; 

 for no sooner did a stranger make his appear- 

 ance, than one of the party immediately 

 descended to the lowest piece of water, and 

 thus the luckless adventurer found himself foiled 

 not only here, but upwards also, by some 

 understanding best known to the plotters in 

 question. Not easily daunted myself, I deter- 

 mined more than once to do my best to get 



