APRIL 93 



yards below me. Through the network of drooping 

 branches I saw a slight commotion. ' That 's him ! ' quoth 

 I, with better emphasis than syntax, and sure enough 

 a very vigorous fish was fast. Then I realised the full 

 hopelessness of my plight. Behind me was the cliff, a 

 sheer rock forty feet high ; to the right and left stood the 

 alders, making movement impossible in all directions save 

 one — namely, into the roaring stream. Meanwhile, the 

 salmon had made free with my predicament, and was 

 careering about in the pool fifty yards below. Twice, 

 thrice, I reeled him up into the strong water, and each 

 time he dashed away down stream. External help was 

 out of the reckoning ; the loudest halloo, even if it were 

 heard above the roar of the waters, could only fall on the 

 unsympathetic tympana of curlews and cock grouse ; and 

 as for landing that fish unaided, it was not to be done, for 

 I was standing on the only foothold between the top of the 

 cliff and the margin, and that was ten feet above the 

 water. Not a human soul was likely to pass that way 

 till the angler whose beat was there on the morrow. . . . 

 By Jove ! To-morrow 's Sunday ! I was faint with hunger 

 already. I should die of exhaustion before Monday. No, 

 bitter as it was to part with such a pretty fish, there was 

 nothing else for it, and I braced myself for the inevitable. 

 At least I tried to do so, and utterly failed. Never but 

 once have I had to pull deliberately on a fish till the line 

 broke, and that ' once ' has permanently tinged my char- 

 acter with melancholy. There was another way, but it 

 was not a seductive one. This was to try and cross the 

 water, which was of doubtful depth, undoubtedly cold, 

 very strong, and so rough that it seemed improbable a 

 man could keep his feet in such a torrent. The further 



