206 A Sportsman at Large 



Peter acted promptly. By his clever manoeuvring of the 

 scow, I soon had the fish under reasonable control, so that 

 my boatman was able to pull in to the bank, where I landed 

 and continued the battle, which was a dour and grim one. 

 I had to shin it over the rocky strand for over two hundred 

 yards and back again several times before Peter waded in 

 and deftly struck with the gaff. 



It was a beautiful fish, absolutely fresh run, with the sea- 

 lice still adhering to its silvery sides. 



But it turned out to be of less avoirdupois than I had guessed 

 when it took. In fact it was just twenty-six pounds, but up 

 to then by far the biggest salmon I had ever accounted for. 

 I was in a seventh heaven of joy ! 



I touched another salmon in the same pool and caught a 

 very handsome fish, which Peter said was a trout which had 

 dropped down-stream from the lake above, during the flood. 



Never before or since have I seen a fario of its like. It was 

 three pounds in weight, and a lovely specimen a bright 

 yellow, the tone of golden sand, with vivid red spots along its 

 flanks, and having rich brown fins and tail ! 



No, it was not a char ! 



Peter said there were plenty like it in the lake from which 

 the river emerged. 



I made a mental reservation to visit that lake, but somehow 

 or other I never found the opportunity. Sport continued too 

 good in the river to admit of problematical excursions. 



We now passed a most likely-looking pool. I expected 

 Peter to give me the word to recommence, but to my surprise 

 he kept pushing the scow down- stream. 



" Don 1 1 fish here ? " I asked. 



" No gued, Meester ; no fisk never caught har." 



I said nothing, but wondered why. 



Further down, I had another sea-trout, a beauty of seven 

 pounds, and a grilse of five pounds (an early arrival) ; but no 

 more salmon until we were over the " gued leuklie steun " of 

 Solem pol. Here I was fast in a hefty twenty-pounder, 

 which gave me a real tough battle. I landed on the right 

 bank ; whereupon he ran right over to the opposite one, where 

 he kept coasting up and down utterly refusing to come over 



