86 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER. 



which we stood. Alister, therefore, took the upper 

 part, while the lower fell to my share. 



The river was rather too much flooded and the water 

 too dark for good sport ; and though it was a most 

 beautiful stream, and the salmon were leaping in all 

 directions, they were not disposed to take the fly. 

 Occasionally a huge tail flapped on the water, and 

 reminded ono of the existence of the fly, but numbers 

 passed unheedingly by. 



Towards evening, however, as the sun went down, 

 matters began to improve. I had changed my fly, by 

 the advice of my attendant, Murdoch ; and, stationed 

 on a rock jutting far into the stream, I threw to the 

 opposite bank, and then drew my fly gradually across 

 a likely-looking eddy just below a rapid, to which he 

 had directed my attention. The very first time it 

 danced across the water, I saw six or seven fish rush 

 at it ; but, in their eagerness hindering each other, 

 they all failed to secure the little attractive insect above 

 them. I repeated the attempt, and again there was 

 the same general rush, but not the same result. A fish 

 was hooked ; but how long he would continue so was a 

 matter of great uncertainty, should his present wild 

 proceedings continue. For ten minutes he fought des- 

 perately, rushing fiercely backwards and forwards 

 across the stream, in a manner that bade fair each 

 moment to break my line across some of the many big 

 stones that studded the river's bed. This first burst of 

 the storm, however, once weathered, I perceived a 

 sensible change in his behaviour; each struggle 

 became less prolonged, and my line was gradually 

 coming home to me. 



But the difficulty was how to bring him within range 

 of old Murdoch's landing-net. I was still standing on 

 the stone from which I had hooked the fish, and, as it 



