FAILURES AND SUCCESSES 



dams designed and carried out by master and man. He was, 

 indeed, more intent on inspection than sport, but made a cast 

 or two in likely spots with a small ten-foot trout rod just brought 

 from Alfheim, where he had used it for harling for trout as 

 above described. In the road Pool, some two miles above 

 the scene of my disaster, a heavy fish took the fly. The right 

 bank is high, possibly seven or eight feet above the water, and, 

 as the line ran merrily through the rings, Lort Phillips wisely 

 climbed to the top so as to get as much leverage as possible to 

 make up for the shortness of his rod. The fish bored towards 

 the opposite bank, and the line, which had not been dried — even 

 Homer nods at times ! — parted close to the reel. The rod 

 straightened, the hold slackened, but the fish, as sometimes 

 happens, ceased to run the moment it felt itself free. The 

 bank, as has been said, was long and sloping, and, as the line, 

 now clear of the rod, glided over the boulders, Gunder, who 

 was standing with the gaff on the rocks below, managed to 

 catch hold of the end of it, before it reached the water. Pro- 

 videntially, the fish remained quiet. The point of the rod was 

 lowered till within his reach, and, with breathless haste, 

 Gunder began, and Lort Phillips completed, the task of passing 

 back the slack line through the rings and knotting it hastily 

 to the axle of the reel. Once more the rod was lifted and the 

 deceived fish felt the strain anew. Then, after a long and 

 cautious battle, in which no risks were taken with the weak 

 line, a beautiful fourteen-pound salmon fresh from the sea was 

 successfully landed. 



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