120 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



telligence, superior though it was, could not grasp 

 distinctions of age and sex. For the next eight days, 

 in spite of perseverance and hard work, we saw no bull 

 elk. One day our ground was disturbed by a Nor- 

 wegian ry per- shooter. Being Government land, all 

 and sundry could lawfully go on it in pursuit of ryper 

 and blackgame, although the public opinion of the 

 valley was generally against such a practice, it being 

 known that an Englishman had rented the elk rights. 



The morning of one off day was spent in poaching 

 trout. All severe-minded sportsmen should skip this 

 portion of my tale. Close to our saeter was a mountain 

 lake, some half-mile square, from which, up a clear 

 f jeld burn, the trout were running to spawn. Beau- 

 tiful trout they were, up to 2 pounds in weight, and 

 very good eating, notwithstanding the late period of 

 the season. I tried fly and minnow over them in vain. 

 They were far too preoccupied, anxiously awaiting a 

 flood which would not come, to look at any lure. But 

 here were three able-bodied men, to say nothing of the 

 fair and stalwart Gertrude, who desired fresh fish for 

 change of diet, and sterner measures in order to obtain 

 them were required and forthwith adopted. The 

 means employed were a leister, thoughtfully brought 

 from the farmhouse by Johan, who had evidently 

 played the game before, a landing-net, and a long pole. 

 All the morning, like a party of school-boys, we chased 

 the trout in three or four clear burn pools not far from 

 the lake, Ivor with the long pole guarding the shallows, 

 Johan with the leister, and I with the landing-net. The 

 result was a bag of half a score of speckled beauties, 

 shared about equally by the net and the leister, that 

 fed the party for three days. 



It now became necessary to change our hunting- 



