30 RUNNING A MAHSEER. 



an impatient, irregular cadence, as if angrily remonstrating 

 against the rough treatment it is forced to undergo. Those 

 few moments of thrilling excitement repay me in full for 

 all my enduring patience. But it suddenly strikes me that 

 I am between the two rivers, and only a short distance 

 above their junction, beyond which I shall be unable to 

 follow the fish ; and I am fully aware that if he once reaches 

 the heavy and broken flood of the combined streams, there 

 will be but little chance of my ever landing him. Con- 

 sequently I am rather nervous and anxious about his inten- 

 tions, and feel considerably relieved in mind when he sud- 

 denly stops. After remaining almost stationary for a while, 

 jerking and tugging away at the hook until each moment I 

 expect to part company with him, he commences boring up- 

 stream, and then takes to sulking in the deep water, where, 

 for a long time, he feels like a log on the straining line, 

 which is vibrating like a harp-string against the strong 

 current. 



All that can now be done is to get Chundreea to pitch 

 stones in his vicinity. This soon has the effect of inducing 

 the fish to alter his tactics, and the reel resumes its remon- 

 strances as he recommences careering away in such a frantic 

 manner that I again begin to experience those qualms of 

 fear and hope which, mingled with intense excitement, make 

 the sport of angling so fascinating to its votaries. My 

 tackle, however, is stout and trustworthy, and this enables 

 me to take a hard and steady pull on him, in order, if pos- 

 sible, to keep him above the junction ; so much so that 

 Chundreea, who is anxiously watching the tussle from the 

 shore, seeing the heavy strain on the bending green-heart, 

 begins shouting, " Let him run. Sahib, let him run, or he'll 

 break the rod ! " But under existing circumstances I well 

 know that such a proceeding will be as likely to prove fatal 

 as holding him too taut. After several more mad rushes 

 and plunges for freedom, his cantrips become somewhat 

 subdued, and ere long he begins to show signs of submission. 



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