A Sportsman at Large 201 



stretch, and when conditions were right, as they were on the 

 occasion toward, it was odds on rising a fish, even if one 

 failed to pull him out. 



Happily my rods, etc., were handy ; so in less than no 

 time I was with Peter in the boat, and all eagerness to com- 

 mence action. My fly was a medium size " black dog " 

 which my boatman had selected as a likely lure. 



We had drifted some fifty yards when Peter spoke. 



" Now we'm comin' teu gued leukly steun.* Fisk dere, yeu 

 tink ! " 



Sure enough, at my third cast, there was a great boil, and I 

 struck vigorously ; so vigorously indeed that something gave, 

 and my line came back without the cast. 



I am afraid I assaulted Peter's ears with strange and 

 uncouth oaths. Let us hope that his knowledge of the English 

 vernacular was not sufficient to bear home to him the true 

 significance of the blasphemy. 



Nothing further occurred in the way of salmon. It was now 

 as dark as it ever is in those parts, the visibility being about 

 the same as that of an English gloaming on a June evening 

 at nine o'clock p.m. (genuine time). 



As we rowed back, I became aware of a great chattering and 

 protesting by the feathered inhabitants of the felds. Pre- 

 sently a great red dog-fox, emerged from the undergrowth 

 which fringed the edge of the river, and passing over the stony 

 strand, settled himself for a steady drink. All the time he 

 was thus engaged he was persistently mobbed by a mixed 

 concourse of wagtails and fieldfares ; but he took not the 

 slightest notice of their vociferous and ill-mannered execrations. 



" If I have gun I sheut'm, yeu tink." 



I did not know whether Peter meant the fox or his perse- 

 cutors. Anyway, it was lucky for either, or both, that no 

 lethal weapon was handy to my boatman's grip. 



I may as well, here and now, set forth the sequel to the loss 

 of what was undoubtedly a good fish on this my first essay on 

 Norwegian waters. 



To this day I cannot account for the untoward accident 

 which left me empty and bitterly lamenting. As a rule I am 

 * A stone of good luck. 



