CH. XXXII. CONTEST WITH A SALMO FEROX. 187 



not where. Again the reel is whirring round so 

 rapidly that you feel your line must break in 

 spite of all your fancied skill. But no — he stops 

 suddenly, and again seems inclined to wind your 

 line round and round the boat ; or, by Jove ! to 

 upset you, if he can, by running against its keel. 

 If there is a projecting nail, or a notch in the wood, 

 he manages to get the line fixed in it. After you 

 have cleared your tackle from this danger, off he 

 darts again. Your Highland boatman swears in 

 Gaelic ; you perhaps follow his example in English 

 — at least, to a certainty you blame him for row- 

 ing too fast or too slow, and begin to think that 

 you would give a guinea to be honourably rid of 

 the fish without discredit to your skill as an angler. 

 At last your enemy appears exhausted — you have 

 been long exhausted yourself — and floats quietly 

 near the surface. But, at the critical moment of 

 placing the gaff in a position to secure him, he 

 flaps his tail, and darts off again as strong as ever, 

 taking good care to go right under the boat again. 

 At last, however, patience and good tackle and 

 skill begin to tell ; and, after two or three more 

 feeble efforts to escape, your noble-looking fellow 

 of a trout is safely lodged in the bottom of the 

 landing-net. 



Inverness-shire and the west of Eoss-shire and 



