and the Maritime Provinces. 109 



The Judge and I, attended by Hiram, took one side of the stream, 

 and the Doctor and William, the other. The clouds which had been mas- 

 sing in all directions, now completely overcast the sky, and the breeze 

 which had sprung up increased in force and veered around to the southwest. 



" If there are any fish in the pools, we ought to rise them," said the 

 Judge, casting a long line into the spume below the falls. 



"Yes, sir," responded Hiram, "this ought to be a good morning for a 

 saumon ; the wind is from the right quarter, and the sun is clouded in." 



"I will take the lower end of the pool, Judge," said I, "so that you 

 can have full swing here. I think a fish or two must have come up." 



At a point a few rods from the "rips," at the foot of the pool, I took 

 a position and began casting. It is my custom to thoroughly cover the 

 water, close at hand, before I put out much line, for the salmon is an uncer- 

 tain fish, and often takes the fly almost at the angler's feet. Many a tip 

 have I seen smashed by unexpected rises, the fisherman incautiously neg- 

 lecting to use a short line before trying to reach farther out. If the fly is 

 taken when the rod is being lifted for a back cast it almost always comes 

 to grief. To the truth of this every angler can testify. 



Carefully, therefore, did I drop my fly in the eddying current, close to 

 the shore, where the water deepened quickly, and at almost my first cast I 

 rose a handsome fish. 



" You just missed him, sir," exclaimed Hiram, who had followed me, 

 "he was a bit too slow. He was a quare divil, altogether, to be lying so 

 close to shore." 



" Yes," I replied, " he was pretty close at hand, but the water is deep 

 at that place and the current seems to draw in there." 



" He '11 come again, no trouble," said the guide. 



I stepped back a few feet and made a cast or two over the spot where 

 the fish had come up, and in a few moments he accepted my lure, and the 

 tuneful reel proclaimed that he was hooked. 



" Ah, ha " ! exclaimed Hiram, triumphantly. " I knew he would take." 



Across the pool the salmon darted, leaping as quickly and as often as 

 a grilse, although it was a good fifteen-pound fish. Almost to the very 

 shore he went before he changed his course, and then back into the deep 

 water in the middle of the pool he returned, where he settled to the bottom 

 and remained motionless. 



" The Judge is fast to another saumon, too " ! exclaimed Hiram, point- 

 ing to my friend, who had hooked a fish below the falls. " If the two get 

 together there '11 be mischief, sure." 



My salmon showed but little of the energy he had displayed at the 

 outset and seemed loth to make many runs. In fact, he yielded to the lift 

 of my heavy rod too readily, and after another brief struggle came tamely 

 to the gaff. 



