SALMON FISHING. 307 
strong and hook well planted, and soon a second time I 
had him under control; and by exercising a little politeness 
of the give-and-take order, I brought him into shallow wa- 
ter. Jock, now my faithful attendant, was by, and with 
intense delight waded into the stream. “Careful, boy! be 
cautious!” But all was thrown away; he made a grab at 
the fish with the gaff, as the sailor had done before, but 
fortunately dragged it in water too shoal for swimming. 
Jock saw he had made a bungle, and was determined to re- 
trieve, if possible, his lost reputation, so threw himself on 
the struggling salmon, and after a wrestling match of some 
minutes, with imminent danger to my tackle, proudly walk- 
ed ashore, wet from head to foot, with the prize tightly 
cuddled up in his arms. Although at first tempted to 
anathematize the young scamp, I enjoyed a hearty laugh at 
the nonchalance with which the monkey treated his ducking. 
Moving down the water, I recommenced operations, and 
rose two good fish. Soon I got fast to a third, which gave 
me ten minutes’ splendid sport; then he sulked, and, after 
two or three futile attempts to escape, succumbed. I was 
surprised at obtaining so easy a victory, but this was ex- 
plained by finding a piece cut out of his back, in front of 
the first dorsal fin, upward of an inch in width and two or 
three long. In trout-fishing, I have once or twice taken 
fish similarly wounded; and as there were no gill-nets at 
either place, the only satisfactory reason I can attribute is 
that either a seal or an otter was the perpetrator. 
As the evening advanced I changed flies, and selected 
what I have long known by the sobriquet of “the drum- 
met.” It is composed thus: the mottled feathers of the 
peacock’s wing, with a few strands of golden pheasants for 
wings; body, light-brown fur of the bear next the hide, 
mixed with orange-sable fur and gold-colored mohair; gold 
tinsel, loosely but regularly wrapped with blood or claret 
