16 AMID THE HIGH HILLS 
fisher will agree, that one ought never to let a 
fish rest, and that a big fish may take hours to 
land if he is not worried enough. The line and 
cast had been thoroughly tested before we started, 
and I felt that I might depend upon them. C. 
told me that as soon as I had hooked my fish he 
had looked at his watch, and that I had now had 
him on for an hour and twenty minutes. This 
greatly astonished me, as I had not realised how 
the time had gone. But it was nevertheless the 
fact, and I felt that we must do something to 
stir the fish. We accordingly decided to move a 
little way up-stream. C. had hardly begun to 
move the boat with this object in view when the 
salmon suddenly moved, and moved to some 
purpose. Neither I nor C. had ever seen any- 
thing in the movements of any fish to compare 
with the strength and rapidity of that rush. The 
salmon went at a terrific pace, straight up the 
river as hard as he could go for about 110 yards, 
and then leaped twice, straight up into the air, 
about a couple of feet above the surface of the 
water, broadside on, showing that he was a 
tremendously thick fish. At the very moment 
he was in the air the reel fell off the rod, and at 
that moment I became conscious, although, of 
