Salmon Fishing. 235 



something to his pipe, with his back to the river. 



One, two, three heavy fish I saw rise within 

 a few feet of my fly, but not at it. Carefully 

 and closely did I search every nook with a 

 shortish line of about fourteen feet in length, 

 but in vain ; to my soft solicitations was salmo 

 quite insensible. 



Such lovely water ! not to have a rise in it, 

 I should have thought next to impossible ; but 

 so it was thus far. 



Remembering that three or four of the 

 angling fraternity, then located at the hotel 

 had been daily perhaps pestering this stream, 

 the thought struck me that, contrary to custom, 

 I would go over the whole of it again with at 

 least twenty yards of line ; so that with deep 

 wading I might command water that had not 

 been so mercilessly flogged. 



When I had come within a few yards of the 

 bottom of the stream, up dashed, like a flash of 

 light, a silvery beauty, and in his downward 

 descent, what with the tightened line, and 



