252 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



not become really dangerous, it would 

 have been unwise to move at all. At 

 the short distance indicated, the path by 

 the river ceased and the very high bank 

 slipped steeply into the stream. Just 

 where the path ended a peril in the water 

 began. This was a long series of tree 

 stumps, situate at intervals so regular as 

 to indicate that the river had gradually, 

 in the course of ages, eaten its way under 

 the roots of an ancient avenue. Notwith- 

 standing what is told in Chapter IV., a 

 hooked salmon does not make a point of 

 running under a snag whenever there is a 

 chance ; my own experience goes to show 

 that the fish nearly always rejects the 

 chance. I would have run that risk, then, 

 had it been the only risk ; but there was 

 the precipitous bank. Even in daylight, 

 instead of venturing to seek on it foot- 

 hold close to the river, I had passed up 

 round the shoulder and walked along on the 

 level top ; and I had seen its unstable face, 

 a front of sand, to be honeycombed with 

 rabbit -holes. It was not a place over 



