OCTOBER 257 



and stupefaction, rather than active 

 alarm, would seem to be the first effect 

 of a Vision. Perhaps the salmon had 

 a steadying influence. Thirty or forty 

 yards off, he was ponderously saunter- 

 ing across-stream and across. I daresay 

 he helped me not to lose the sense of 

 being still on a pathway of reality. 

 At any rate, I did not feel so ghastly 

 as John was when I had looked at 

 him. 



Rumination on these self-satisfied lines 

 came to an abrupt end. 



Just as he had touched on the other 

 shore and was due to turn on his tracks, 

 the salmon leaped. The Spectre heard 

 him, and came strolling down the bank. 

 It did not glide, as glides the ghost of the 

 novel or of the stage ; It walked just as 

 a man would walk. It stopped where 

 the fish had leapt and plunged. Then, 

 instead of completing his cruise to the 

 hither shore, the salmon rushed towards 

 the Spectre. He paused, not far from the 

 bank, opposite the dread being. That 



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