and rolled leisurely among the stones, while 

 the rush and uproar went on harmlessly 

 overhead. And everywhere he went he had 

 a sense of comradeship, of hosts that were 

 moving onward with him to the same end ; 

 for the river was full of smolts, gliding, 

 dodging, flashing like silver everywhere in 

 the cool dark eddies, and all moving swiftly 

 downward to the sea. 



So they passed from the hills to the low 

 marsh lands and lakes; and here they met 

 shoals of great silver fish, their own mothers, 

 beginning their long journey upward to the 

 shallows which the smolts had just left be- 

 hind them. 



A new flavor came into the water as they 

 followed the slow current. It was the taste of 

 the sea, and a great thrill and tingle passed 

 through the shoal of smolts, making them 

 leap for joy and dash onward, down through 

 the first gentle surges of the tide, down faster 

 and faster, till they scattered suddenly and 

 hid as another shoal of great salmon flashed 

 into sight, with a score of seals darting and 

 twisting after them like so many black 



355 



7he Story 

 ofKopseep 



