Salmon Leaps and Spkay-bows. 247 



salmon. No one ever hears of a string of salmon, for the very 

 good reason that their bodies are so heavy and gills so ten- 

 der that they will not sustain their weight. 



I put on another fly and cast again. For some time my 

 eyes were not blest with the sight of a rise ; but by-and-by 

 a salmon accepted the fly in earnest and fastened. The prick 

 of the hook gave it such a shock that it bounded and leaped 

 three or four times, as quick as thought, several feet above 

 the water. Finding itself still hooked, it came toward me, 

 and I retreated, for fear that too acute an angle of the line 

 and rod might enable it, by a salmon dash, to break the top 

 of my rod< I therefore walked backward, and the salmon fol- 

 lowed me until within five feet of the shore. It then turned 

 as quick as lightning, and whir ! whir ! whir ! ! went my reel. 

 Another leap showed it to be in the middle of the current, 

 with but little line remaining on my reel, and a reef of rocks 

 rising above the water between me and the salmon. I at 

 once saw that it might extricate itself and take my fly and 

 some of the line ; but it misjudged its own situation, and 

 started to leap the falls. By its failure I turned its head 

 shoreward, and brought it within a rod of me, when it took 

 fright again and started down the river. After checking and 

 turning it, back it came to me, gentle as possible, leaping oc- 

 casionally, as if it was its nature, for I should have thought a 

 fish so circumstanced would have swam low; but no — all 

 game fish are alike in that respect. Although the salmon 

 had become used to my appearance, it still distrusted' me, and 

 started out into the current agaiii. There he leaped a few 

 times, and finally consented to be led back ; but when it gain- 

 ed sight of the gaff it shot ofi" again, though I could both see 

 and feel that it was losing strength. After two or three 

 more visits to the shore it became weakened, and Duncan 

 gafied it. The fish weighed only sixteen pounds, but it was 

 the prettiest salmon that I had ever seen. Above the line, 

 from gill to tail, it was a light and brilliant salmon color, and 

 below it was like polished silver. I could not help ex^claim- 



