124 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



him back into open water. But after a few des- 

 perate tugs, he was compelled, for the time, to give 

 up the effort and permit him to sulk preserving, 

 however, a taut line, measured with mathematical 

 nicety, upon the stubborn brute. Salmon will 

 sometimes sulk thus for hours, in seeming disregard 

 and contempt of any pressure you dare bring upon 

 them. For more than thirty minutes DUN sat 



" Like Patience on a monument, smiling at Grief," 



when he deemed it high time to assume the aggres- 

 sive. So he ordered his canoemen to paddle cau- 

 tiously toward the " objective point," while he 

 reeled up his two hundred feet of taut line until 

 every muscle ached with the pressure. He had 

 reached within fifty feet of his leader, but not a 

 tail wagged ; thirty feet, but nothing was felt but 

 the steady tension of the quivering line ; ten feet, 

 the same. All was as still and motionless as the 

 old granite bowlder which looked down upon the 

 dark waters amid whose eddying currents leader 

 and fly were hidden from vision. Angler and 

 gaffer were alike perplexed. So near a fish and 

 no sign of life ! Nothing like it had passed into 

 the annals of angling. " Slide your paddle down 

 cautiously and start him," said DUN. Down slid 

 the paddle, but nothing came of it. " Try again ; 

 but take care that he doesn't rush under the canoe." 



