74* THE SONG OF THE REEL. 



Then again, pride welling up within him, he plunged wildly, 

 and, with his huge tail, lashed the waters into foam, By this time 

 he was thoroughly exhausted; something slipped beneath his 

 gaping gills, and he was drawn unceremoniously from his native 

 element. Then, following a heavy blow from a " priest," a tremor 

 ran through his well-conditioned body, and his great mouth opened 

 wide. Two human figures, warmly clad, stooped to admire the 

 splendour of his monstrous form ; whilst through the leafless trees 

 the wind, as if in pity for the slain, crooned an epicede. And, in 

 the fleeting light of the winter afternoon, amid the withered sedges 

 by the mere, lay that mighty fish, vanquished at last. 



