LILLEDAL, 1913 217 



is as well to refrain from using it to convey any news 

 which it is important to keep secret ! 



I was taken to see the fish directly after my return. 

 He was a great beauty, quite fresh run and very broad 

 and well-shaped. I was told that he did not take 

 very long to kill, but there was one breathless moment 

 when he nearly went over the foss. Geoffrey wisely 

 adopted the old tactics of slacking the line. Very 

 often the mad rush of a fish towards an impossible 

 place may be checked in that manner ; the fish thinks 

 that he is free and turns up stream to seek his old 

 holt. There is of course a risk, but desperate cases 

 need desperate remedies. Many fish of about four 

 pounds had been caught during the week by the other 

 anglers, male and female, who filled the house, but no 

 other monster. 



The next day I took my lunch with me, and 

 walked up to Haarstad Bridge to fish my way down. 

 The river was becoming very low and rain was much 

 wanted. There was the threatening of a shower, 

 but it came to nothing. I got one fish of about two 

 pounds, and had two other rises, but did not move 

 anything of any size. I fished every day during the 

 remainder of my stay with the same only moderate 

 success, and no large fish were caught by any other 

 members of the party. The weather continued fine, 

 and the river fell until at last there was hardly any 

 hope of a rise, but there was plenty of other amusement, 

 and it was delightful to spend all day in the open air in 

 such ideal surroundings. On Sunday Miss Cole showed 

 me the remains of a heron's nest in a low birch tree by 

 the side of the path leading down to House Pool, which 

 had been raided by hoodies. I flushed a woodcock 



