106 AUTUMNS ON THE SPEY. 



and a large hook, I recommenced operations. It 

 was evidently one day in a hundred. I believe 

 the fish would have risen at any lure, however 

 coarse or rudely constructed. At the very first 

 throw I was fast in another, and now I determined 

 to alter my strategy, and to hurry him down 

 stream as quickly as possible, in hopes of reach- 

 ing the little harbour of dead water before any- 

 thing untoward should occur, fully prepared, of 

 course, for the hold of the fly giving way, but 

 dreading far more the alternative of the line be- 

 coming entangled in the trees which, I was now 

 aware, extended far into the bed of the pool ; so 

 raising his head above water I allowed him to lash 

 about furiously for a short time, and then, before 

 he had made up his mind in what direction to 

 bolt, I urged him rapidly down stream, running 

 along the bank, but keeping well in front of him, 

 and with a short line forcing him away by the 

 power of the rod, while the gillie, with a battery 

 of stones which he continued to discharge at in- 

 tervals, tried to frighten him as much as possible 

 from the submerged branches at the side. All 

 this time I saw that fish were still rising above 

 me, and I determined, whatever the result might 

 be, to make short work of it, so, reversing my 

 rod, reel upwards, to alter the strain, and again 



