54 SPORT IN VANCOUVER 



wards with shouts of warning. In the gloom 

 I could see by their attitudes that they were 

 intensely interested in our welfare, for the next 

 best thing to playing a fish yourself is to watch 

 another at the game. Then began a series of 

 ' magnificent cruises.' It is part of the interest 

 in salmon-fishing that the fish you have ' on ' 

 is infinitely larger than anything previously 

 hooked. Generally it is a pleasant delusion; 

 but sometimes it is true, and then the con- 

 flicting emotions of the play and the thrill of 

 subsequent capture are something to live for. 



" My fish was, I knew, the biggest I had ever 

 hooked, so one had to follow the same old ways 

 of playing him, coupled with such extra force 

 as that stout tackle warranted. After every 

 great circuit of the boat I resorted to all sorts 

 of devices for tiring my antagonist, but he 

 refused to give in or to allow me to shorten 

 the line. But my fish was as gallant a fighter 

 as ever was hatched, and the better the fighter 

 the quicker he kills himself. Half-an-hour has 

 elapsed and I see the lead six feet up the line 

 for the first time. Soon we shall see back and 

 tail. Yes, there they are, and what a monster. 

 He must be 60 lb. at least. At last he shows 

 side, and that is the beginning of the end. 

 Mac, an indifferent gaffer under the most 

 favourable circumstances, now surpasses him- 



