316 THE RIVER. 



weir more than half under water, was able 

 to get within thirty yards of him. The 

 noise of the rapid was an effectual bar to 

 conversation ; but the Captain and he had 

 fished far too often together to be ignorant 

 of each other's resources. At a given signal 

 the Captain's rod was raised, and his line 

 tightened along the surface, while the Par- 

 son's fly, having made two or three rapid 

 circles in the air, alighted with great preci- 

 sion on his line ; thus hooking it, and form- 

 ing with it a temporary cross-line. Carefully 

 reeling up and tightening, the Parson gra- 

 dually got the pull on his own side of the 

 rock, when the salmon, feeling his defence 

 gone, rushed furiously upwards. A slight 

 flick released the auxiliary fly, and the Cap- 

 tain regained the command over his fish.* 



With a skilful eye and a practised hand, 

 like the Captain's, the result could not long 

 be doubtful ; supported by his attendants, 



* The real scene of this exploit was the Black Rock, 

 about two miles higher up, where the stream is much 

 narrower. The author has been told by an old Bel- 

 leeker that the rock of the Grass Guard is altogether 

 beyond the cast of a line from the right bank. He is 

 aware of this, but it is not beyond the cast of a line 



