one slight tug of the hne, compelling the fly to jump a little forward, 

 resulted in favour of the fisherman. "There he is! Got him — got 

 him ! My, what a weight on this hne tackle ! " 



True enough, a salmon had got well hold of the fly, obligingly 

 turned, dived to the bottom, and indulged in a fit of the sulks. Then 

 compliments began to fly. 



His lordship excitedly observed : " Could anything in this lovely 

 world of ours afford such a slice of fortune, as my luck in meeting 

 with this extraordinary man ! He simply inspires confidence. He 

 gives one the impression of being surrounded by a certain nimbus of 

 imaginative suggestion. His remarks leave the conviction of grasp, 



application, thoroughness, and complete masteiy of essentials 



No wonder my water has given such bad returns," continued his 

 lordship, who had winced when the Professor spoke of the blunders 

 made in sending men to their places, but who now made a remark 

 that betokened a quickness of observation. For he cried: "Bravo! 

 You avoided disaster with consummate ease ; you stopped his slipping 

 ' off,' as you said, by the ingenious device of dropping the point of 

 your rod at the supreme and critical moment when, otherwise, I 



suppose he would have started to go down stream I see him 



— I see him! I hope you won't lose him now, for the ladies are 

 coming along, full of excitement." 



" Ah," chimed in the angler, " but it's a little premature to 

 speculate with an)' confidence upon the ultimate result, because the 

 rascal is hooked in the back. Any way, I won't excite him, nor make 

 any rash attempt to endanger success in the end." 



The salmon had jumped out of water close to us. We distinctly 

 saw that he was hooked near the back fin, and (liat he was not as 



