6 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



the hooks ; anon he would bolt, with great 

 valour, in order to break the barbed-wire 

 entanglement ; through the sough of 

 the west wind, as he fled, we heard the 

 whirr of the reel. By and by he came at 

 intervals to the surface, and smote the 

 water with his tail. This was really a 

 grand sight. The salmon's lashings of 

 the loch made even the spray -tipped 

 waves seem small. 



All this time, of course, as our tackle 

 would have gone to the bottom had we 

 stopped, our own boat had been moving 

 on ; but before we were too far off to 

 see or hear we knew that the fish was 

 captured. There had been an upward 

 flash as of silver at the side of the boat, 

 which indicated gaffing, followed by a 

 waving of caps and jubilant shouts. 



Just beyond the Otter's Rocks, about 

 three miles up the loch on the south 

 shore, we came upon another spectacle 

 of the same kind. A middle-aged gentle- 

 man was battling with a salmon. He 

 was the cause of some discussion in our 



