280 A Sportsman at Large 



I had no earthly chance to reel in after the orthodox fashion. 

 Next, the brute went deep again, suddenly stopped, and then 

 began " jiggering," in that nerve-racking fashion which is 

 apt to reduce the angler to the verge of impotence and neuras- 

 thenia. 



In order to counteract this manoeuvre, I tried the adminis- 

 tration of half a dozen short, sharp jerks ; for I had no doubt 

 as to the strength of the tackle which I was using, and I knew 

 that the treble flights which were attached to that fearsome 

 spinner must be well implanted in the victim's jaws. This 

 counterstroke of mine had the desired effect, for the fish 

 suddenly stopped his bulldog-like worryings, and made another 

 terrific run ; but it did not get as much of my line out as before, 

 so I was able to turn him ere he had traversed fifty yards. 

 And so the battle waged, first the fish and then the angler 

 getting the best of it. After about forty minutes, I thought 

 I had His Nibs in a reasonable frame of mind, so ordered 

 Tolle to pull gently to the strand, where it was our custom to 

 land in order to fight out the final stages of our struggles with 

 the various fish which we had in hand. 



This one was now swimming deep, but quite steadily, about 

 ten yards from, and parallel with, us. As soon as our scow 

 landed, Tom and I jumped out, and I had another ten minutes' 

 fight with the fish, which was now running short and sullenly. 

 At last, I having manoeuvred him into a favourable position, 

 Tolle waded in with the gaff ; but no sooner did the great 

 salmon (for salmon indeed it was) catch sight of Tolle" s sub- 

 merged legs, than it was off again with a tremendous rush ! 

 All I could do was to scramble back into the boat. Tom 

 remained on shore, but Lars, who had been watching the 

 performance with wide-eyed astonishment, took his place, 

 and we shoved off just in time to avert a catastrophe. 



The fish was going so fast towards the mouth of the estuary 

 that it was necessary for the two boatmen to row for all they 

 were worth, as again the whole of my line and most of the 

 backing was out. Never did the salmon stop, in the Adsen, but 

 went careering at express speed some hundred yards out into 

 the fjord itself, and then went fathoms deep ! 



By this time, the inhabitants of Sand had gathered on the 



