122 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



the big fish was led to gaff, and was hauled aboard. Our first 

 salmon of the season ! Caught in our own fashion, on an unprece- 

 dented tide and with a hook the subject of local derision. 



"Jim," I said, "not so bad. But watch me now. We've 

 drifted way below the dolphin. I'll get one before we get back. 



And I did. 



What magic there was about the dolphin, or the water in its 

 vicinity, I shall not pretend to say. But the fact remains that 

 of the many trips we made that memorable day, up and down 

 past the weathered bunch of piling, not one failed to reward us 

 with a strike. 



How the sun got way over into the west and slid into the 

 sea while we thought it was still morning, I shall never know. 

 That we, with our beach appetites, should forget all about lunch 

 remains one of the unexplained things. Why the long shadows 

 stretched away from the spruces in midday, and what strange 

 phenomenon painted the placid surface of the bay with evening 

 purple and gold, when by all reason it should have been noon, 

 T know not. 



But I do know this. We hooked and played that day four- 

 teen Royal Chinooks, and of these we landed seven. I remember, 

 too, that we were late for dinner, and I shall not soon forget that 

 evening trudge through the woods with Jim's heels striking at 

 every step the tail of a big Chinook strung on a stick across our 

 shoulders. 



What's the joke, Jim?" I had heard him softly chuckling. 

 "I was just thinking," he said, "how we exploded the theory 

 of salmon fishing on a running tide." 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK. 



As our country becomes more settled, there is but one way 

 that we can keep our larger game animals from becoming ex- 

 tinct. This is by setting aside certain areas as game refuges. 

 The Yellowstone National Park is the best example we have of 

 a big game refuge. 



The Eocky Mountain National Park in Colorado was estab- 

 lished by a bill which passed both houses in Congress without a 



