180 SALMON-SPEARING 



falling with a loud splash into the shallow water, 

 which for more than a mile from the mouth of the 

 Arkail was rarely more than three feet deep ; but 

 though he every now and then fancied he saw the 

 salmon's wake still bearing on before him, he ran 

 to little purpose but to cover himself with wounds 

 and bruises from head to foot, and was on the very 

 point of giving up his fruitless chase, from sheer 

 exhaustion, when a cry from his brother, sounding 

 ahead of him, urged him on, and as he turned a 

 corner round which the river swept in a sharp curve, 

 he came upon Alick standing near the bank and 

 pinning something down with his spear to the 

 bottom of the water. " Go down and get him 

 under the gills, old boy," was his brother's greeting, 

 as Frank stumbled breathlessly up ; " he's a regular 

 monster, and will take you all you know to carry 

 him in ; but I think he's your friend, and he will 

 count as yours, if we find your mark on him." 

 " First spear " always counted in the Sunderbunds' 

 (a precedent advanced by the speaker from his 

 reminiscences of pig-sticking in Lower Bengal). 



" There it is then, Alick," said Frank, as he laid 

 the fish down on the river's bank and pointed to a 

 jagged cut a little behind the dorsal fin. " I did 

 not allow enough in front, and should never have 

 seen him again but for you ; but isn't he a thick 



