88 Ai\IID THE HIGH HILLS 
I never had a more lively fish to deal with. It 
jumped fourteen times clean out of the water, 
and, making a constant series of wild rushes, took 
me at a great pace down the river. Some ladies 
of our party arrived at the head of the pool about 
half an hour after I had hooked the fish, and 
inquired of the fisherman on the other bank 
whether he had seen anything of me. The reply 
was, " I saw him fast in a big fish about half an 
hour ago going round the bend of the river on 
his way to Hereford." Though I did not get to 
Hereford, which was nearly thirty miles distant, 
the fish took me about three-quarters of a mile 
down the river before I succeeded in killing it, 
after over an hour's battle. It was a beautiful 
clean -run hen -fish of 21 J lb. By this time it 
was nearly three o'clock, and after a hasty luncheon 
we decided to fish down the lower part of the pool. 
On our way we had to pass a point where C. had 
seen a fish rising as we came up in the morning. 
I fished this place with great care, and about my 
second cast as the minnow swung round I got a 
pull and hooked the fish. I had a good deal more 
of my own way with this fish than with the one I 
had previously killed, and in about twenty minutes 
it was in the boat. It proved to be another 
