APRIL 93 



yards below me. Through the network of drooping 

 branches I saw a slight commotion. ' That 's him ! ' quoth 

 I, with better emphasis than syntax, and sure enough 

 a very vigorous fish was fast. Then I realised the full 

 hopelessness of my plight. Behind me was the cliff', a 

 sheer rock forty feet high ; to the right and left stood the 

 alders, making movement impossible in all directions save 

 one namely, into the roaring stream. Meanwhile, the 

 salmon had made free with my predicament, and was 

 careering about in the pool fifty yards below. Twice, 

 thrice, I reeled him up into the strong water, and each 

 time he dashed away down stream. External help was 

 out of the reckoning ; the loudest halloo, even if it were 

 heard above the roar of the waters, could only fall on the 

 unsympathetic tympana of curlews and cock grouse ; and 

 as for landing that fish unaided, it was not to be done, for 

 I was standing on the only foothold between the top of the 

 cliff and the margin, and that was ten feet above the 

 water. Not a human soul was likely to pass that way 

 till the angler whose beat was there on the morrow. . . . 

 By Jove ! To-morrow 's Sunday ! I was faint with hunger 

 already. I should die of exhaustion before Monday. No, 

 bitter as it was to part with such a pretty fish, there was 

 nothing else for it, and I braced myself for the inevitable. 

 At least I tried to do so, and utterly failed. Never but 

 once have I had to pull deliberately on a fish till the line 

 broke, and that ' once ' has permanently tinged my char- 

 acter with melancholy. There was another way, but it 

 was not a seductive one. This was to try and cross the 

 water, which was of doubtful depth, undoubtedly cold, 

 very strong, and so rough that it seemed improbable a 

 man could keep his feet in such a torrent. The further 



