SALMON-FISHING. 101 



that bargain with him ! But the opportunity of 

 even that compromise is past. It's intolerable. I 

 , don't believe the Stoics ever existed ; if they did 

 they must have suffered more than even I do in 

 bottling up their miseries. They did feel ; they 

 must have felt why pretend they didn't ? Zeno 

 was a humbug ! Anyhow, none of the sect ever 

 lost a salmon like that ! What ! " A small sorrow ? 

 Only a fish!" Ah, try it yourself! An old lady, 

 inconsolable for the loss of her dog, was once referred 

 for example of resignation to a mother who had lost 

 her child, and she replied, " Oh, yes ! but children are 

 not dogs!" And I, in some sort, understand her. 

 So, in silent gloom I follow Ole homewards. 



Not darkness, nor twilight, but the solemn yellow 

 hues of northern midnight gather over the scene; 

 black and forbidding frown the precipices on either 

 side, save where on the top of the awful Horn 

 inaccessible as happiness far, far beyond the reach 

 of mortal footstep, still glows, like sacred fire, the 

 sleepless sun ! Hoarser murmurs seem to arise from 



