108 A DAY UP THE RIVER. 



" By all that's unlucky, I've lost him! — 

 I've lost him behind that rock. Down with 

 you there, Jemmy — down there, some of 

 you ! — throw stones in ! — start him again ! " 

 And a shower of stones, cast by some twenty 

 willing hands, came down like a hail-storm ; 

 but the line remained fixed as ever. 



" I'll tell you what," said the Parson, 

 "you never had a fish at all ; you have been 

 hooked on that rock from the first." 



And so it was. In the very midst of the 

 rapid his hook had got foul of a well-known 

 rock, which has been from time immemorial 

 the preservation of many a salmon. Feeling 

 the sudden check, the Scholar had struck 

 scientifically, and given the butt after the 

 most approved fashion, when the water, 

 catching the bight of the line, of which there 

 was a good deal more out than there was 

 any necessity for, ran out the reel, giving it 

 every appearance of a fish heading deter- 

 minedly to the falls. Whenever the Scholar 

 got on the high ground and raised his rod, 

 the action of the water was taken off from a 

 great part of his line ; and, as it appeared 

 above the surface, it seemed like a fish run- 

 ning up stream. As a matter of course, the 





