A Sportsman at Large 208 



having hauled my captive up-stream, so as to avoid disturbing 

 the rest of the little pool, I managed to bring him well within 

 reach of Peter's deadly steel and soon had the satisfaction of 

 gazing rapturously upon my first Norwegian salmon gasping 

 on the grass, a fresh run fifteen pounder. The hardy Norse- 

 man handed me a heavy stone, saying : 



" Yeure firs fisk, Meester. Hit him on head yeum-selb, 

 fur gued leuklie ! " 



I delivered the coup de grace, and then noticed a ponderous 

 fish bulging on the very edge of the run on its far side. I 

 was fishing with a Durham Ranger of large pattern, and 

 this I managed to drop neatly at exactly the right angle. 

 As it swept round and came into position, the salmon took 

 with a mighty swirl, and again I felt the ecstasy of a tight line ! 



" Huld 'im, Meester ! Huld 'im ! If he goo deun the fall, 

 yeu'm leuse 'im ! Stor fisk ! (big fish), yeu tink ! " 



Easier said than done ! I tried my utmost, but it was no 

 good : the salmon a whopper turned tail and was down the 

 shoot like a streak of lightning. My reel screeched and the 

 line ran out yard after yard. I put on the maximum strain 

 my rod would bear, and then held fast. Snap ! bang ! The 

 top straightened and the line slackened. When I wound in, 

 I found that, luckily, my loss was confined to the Durham 

 Ranger. 



After indulging in the usual anathemas, I was about to bend 

 on a fly of similar pattern, when Peter intervened : 



" I no like that flu," he said. " There's teu many leave on 

 der watter. That dam flu, leuk teu mooch like leaf, yeu 

 tink." 



So I altered to a local fly which Colonel Whitmore had 

 particularly recommended ; very like a Silver Doctor, but 

 having a sort of corrugated silver body. 



Then we went half-way down the run, where the water was 

 leaping and boiling over the semi-submerged rocks. 



' We'm fisk har," said my boatman laconically. 



" Oh, hang it all, Peter," I expostulated, " surely you don't 

 expect me to cast over this, with bushes and trees pressing on 

 my back ? " 



" No, Meester, you'm goo in bo-at ! " 



