THE "WHUSTLER " 249 



the extra twelve feet thus gained would 

 be enough ? At the moment I had no 

 thought for the ludicrousness of the pros- 

 pective situation. Humour flees from 

 fright. 



Much to my relief, the line itself 

 sufficed, and there was even a little to 

 spare. Whether the salmon had gone 

 quite to the bottom or not I cannot say ; 

 but, wherever he was, he stopped. He 

 moved neither to right nor to left, neither 

 up nor down ; but he was still on. Of 

 that there was no doubt. I had never 

 lost touch with him during the dive ; 

 and I felt him still, though he was stead- 

 fast ; and through the line there ran a 

 tense quivering thrill like that of a 

 telegraph wire. The little rod was 

 trembling as my legs had been at the 

 beginning of the episode. Being now 

 well inured to the crisis, I myself was 

 comparatively at ease. 



So, I noticed gladly, was Ronald, resting 

 on his oars after nigh three hours of hard 

 and anxious toil. Five minutes passed ; 



