MAHSER FISHING 67 



stream and checked in deep water near the left 

 bank of the river. I was in a boat, and dropped 

 down to him, recovering my line until I was 

 close to the fish. Along the left bank of the 

 river there were jagged rocks ; and Changan 

 Singh, the officer in charge of the ferries, who 

 often accompanied the late Mr. Bruere and 

 myself on fishing expeditions, and who was very 

 keen about the sport, had seen a line cut more than 

 once upon these rocks. He suggested, therefore, 

 that we should cross to the other bank, which 

 was shelving and sandy. The right bank looked 

 very tempting, and I fell into the snare, and 

 we started across. The stream was strong, and 

 as I paid out line I lost contact with the fish, 

 and when I began to reel up the trace was broken. 

 The fish must have availed himself of the slack 

 line to fix the trace on a rock and so get a dead 

 pull ; and when a big, unexhausted fish gets a 

 dead pull, no fine tackle can stand the strain. 

 I ought to have tried to frighten the fish and 

 start him off again, as another rush would have 

 carried him past the rocks into safety, and my 

 strategy was badly at fault. I never quite 

 forgave Changan Singh for having played the 

 part of Satan on this occasion ; and, if he is still 

 in the land of the living, I am sure he will remember 

 the incident. 



The other day of wrath was a day in the spring 

 on the Giri. I was fishing the water between 

 Mandal and Sattawan, which was, that year, 

 in fine order, and I hooked a large fish in white 

 water at the head of a long pool. He moved 

 off down the pool like a man of war, not with the 



