64 SPRING SALMON 



* That one will take if you can cover him,' quoth the 

 watchful James. 



Ay, but how to cover him ? he is full forty yards 

 away, and the cliff bars all nearer approach. The only 

 plan is to make a wide circuit round the cliff through 

 the moor; which we proceed to do in feverish haste, 

 for it will be dark in half an hour. Then there is a 

 scramble down a kind of watercourse a mere scar in 

 the precipice transacted not without abrasion and the 

 admission of cold water to very sensitive parts of the 

 person; and at last we stand together on a strip of 

 rock-strewn turf beside the river. 



Loudly thumps the fisher's heart against his ribs as 

 the line extends over the oily surface ; it is a moment 

 of suspense verging on the painful. The current is 

 strong, and brings the fly round quick, but not too 

 quick for a quicker pair of eyes below. There is a 

 gleam a snatch then begins the old game of pulley- 

 hauley, in which treble gut puts the odds heavily on 

 the landward side. No kelt this, but a salmon fresh 

 from the tide, which in due time lies high and dry in 

 the twilight one of the most perfectly beautiful of all 

 living creatures. 



As we stand at the opening of a new season, I don't 

 mind giving a worthy Scandinavian the benefit of an 

 advertisement by quoting verbatim a handbill which 

 has come to me. 



