104 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



the result. But his purpose remained unchanged ; 

 and so soon as he could be safely lifted from his 

 couch he started off to meet us weak but hope- 

 ful assured that nothing would so soon set him 

 up as the " strike " of a salmon and the joyous 

 abandon of camp-life. And he was right. He 

 had been taking his twenty grains of quinine every 

 day for a fortnight. His first salmon made his 

 torpid blood leap with all the vitality of lusty 

 health. He very soon discarded his medicine, as 

 he found every pound of salmon the full equivalent 

 of a grain of quinine. In forty-eight hours he was 

 my chief competitor at table, a fact which ena- 

 bled the Judge to render the formal decision that 

 he was a well man with a ravenous appetite. For 

 a week the Judge limped his way to his canoe by 

 aid of his crutch ; but after that he was our cham- 

 pion pedestrian. There is something magical in 

 the atmosphere of this far-north region, when to its 

 health-giving properties is superadded the excite- 

 ment afforded by the pleasant pastime of angling. 



