A Sportsman at Large 77 



uts yezelf phwats zoo-und yez spoort fer good an' all ! Yez 

 dod-rotted galoot ! " 



Talking of million to one chances, these come off more 

 frequently than is generally imagined. Two instances spring 

 to my mind as glaring examples. By your leave, I will quit, 

 " Dardi-moor " for a space, in order to set them forth. 



A young soldier friend of mine, fishing a well-known river 

 in Norway, became fast in a heavy fish ; but for some reason 

 perhaps careless bending on the whole cast came loose 

 from the line and was borne off by the salmon, leaving the 

 angler utterly disgruntled. The next day he was fishing 

 the same pool, when he had a pull. He says that, at the 

 time, it struck him that there was something queer in the 

 way the fish " took ; " but he was fast, sure enough, and 

 soon realized that he was dealing with a pretty lively and 

 weighty customer. When at last he had the fish well under 

 control and began to reel in, he was astonished to find that, 

 when the end of the cast was close to the rod's top, so that 

 the salmon should have been fairly near to the surface, it 

 was still remote and boring deep. As he lifted the point 

 he was utterly amazed to perceive his fly attached to another 

 loop and a long length of treble gut ; but he did not fully 

 realize what had happened until he had his fish (a fine thirty- 

 two pounder) safely on dry land. He had actually hitched 

 his fly into the loop of the cast he had lost the previous even- 

 ing. The fish was still on, and paid the penalty ; though 

 the gaffing of it, under the circumstances, was a difficult 

 and touch-and-go matter ; but by carefully retreating from 

 the bank and ascending a friendly hillock he had enabled 

 his boatman to ply the steel successfully. 



Who can estimate the chances here involved ? You have 

 a big salmon moving about in rapid waters and dragging 

 a cast, the loop of which owns a diameter of less than an 

 eighth of an inch. The angler casts another fly at a venture 

 and works it through the pool. How many times might this 

 happen, 'ere his fly catches in the swirling loop ? 



A very knowledgable chap, when told this strange, eventful 

 history, surprised me with the following thesis : 



" My dear Cockie, the chances are not so remote as you 



