HVILESTED. THE UPPER WATER 149 



with him. The sea-trout which escape usually do so 

 either in the first or the last ten seconds of the struggle. 

 The final part of this statement looks like an Irish Bull 

 or a truism, but my meaning, perhaps imperfectly 

 expressed, is that they get off either almost imme- 

 diately or within ten seconds of the time when, 

 unless the hold gave way, they would be safe in the 

 landing-net. You very seldom lose one while running 

 fairly under water, except from some defect of the cas.t 

 or hook, unless he manages to get out of the pool and 

 to shoot a rapid. 



When Ole joined me with the boat, I determined 

 to get on board and try a different fly over the 

 pool, as the water was high, and some likely places 

 were too far off to be reached by wading. Even 

 the part I had already fished was well worth another 

 try. We had hardly started when my boatman's 

 sharp eye caught sight of something barely covered 

 by the water, just past the edge of the shingle off 

 which we had pushed the boat. He pointed it out 

 to me ; it was a large salmon, lying on its side, 

 apparently dead. It seemed to me most remarkable 

 that I had not observed it before, as it was close to 

 the very spot from which I had started to wade, 

 but probably the reason I had missed seeing it was 

 the same which prevented Tilburina in the " Critic " 

 from seeing the British Fleet it was " not then 

 in sight." We at once pushed back the boat and 

 Ole got out to investigate, but when he took hold of 

 the fish it showed that it was still alive by floundering 

 and endeavouring to escape into the deep water ; how- 

 ever, it was too sick to be able to swim away, and a 

 knock on the head with a stone speedily put it out of its 



