216 THROUGH CANADA 



great head in mad resentment of such unwonted 

 infringement of his liberty. How mighty he is in 

 battle, and the decks must be cleared to snatch 

 from him the victory ; a jam in the rings, a tangle 

 in the reel, and he will smash like packthread the 

 stout silk line, or snap in sunder the most powerful 

 rod! 



In response to his first plunge the reel gives. He 

 mistakes the act of yielding for weakness, and seeks 

 to better the odds by increased pace and fiercer battle. 

 In the forty-mile swim from the sea there has been 

 nothing in the pace to match that sample. He rises 

 for a moment, so close to the boat that Hiawatha 

 sees him, and exclaims, " Oh, if I had my spear ! " 

 Shame on thee, Hiawatha ! Think of thine ancestor 

 who wrestled fairly with the green corn until he 

 mastered it. It is not thus we fight the Nahma of 

 the stream. Skill against strength is the principle ; a 

 fair fight and no favour. 



An hour goes by . . . another half follows, and by 

 this time the captive had traversed up and down a 

 mile of water. Now he lies on his broad sides, inert 

 on the surface. The hands of the watch marked five 

 minutes past four when he was hooked ; it had 

 reached ten minutes to six when he was gaflfed, I 

 was almost unequal to the task of lifting him over the 

 gunwale, and sank with aching back and limp arms 

 from the prolonged strain. 



" You fish for the sport of it," said Hiawatha, in a 



