82 
WILD NORWAY. 
sudden rush to the surface, ploughing along flat on his 
bent broadside for twenty yards. Then we saw that 
this fish was even bigger than our lost monster of 
Samkomme. Was it possible to subdue such a salmon 
on that paltry hook ? True, it was double ; that reflec¬ 
tion seemed inspiring. But then the hooks were even 
smaller than that which had already failed, being actually 
the smallest (No. 5) in all my collection, and therefore 
specially selected for fine water in a streamless pool. 
In salmon-fishing, as, I presume, in managing a 
ministry, it becomes occasionally necessary to possess 
a policy, or to decide for better or worse upon a set 
course of action. In the present instance, having the 
above- considerations in view, I determined (rightly or 
wrongly) to play for safety, to act solely on the defen¬ 
sive, and to leave the fish to kill himself, even though it 
involved my spending the night with him in the process. 
I pass over details which would involve repetition. 
Suffice it that eventually the fish, persistently dropping 
down-stream, obliged me to follow. This, for some 
distance, was easy enough; but lower down, trees grew 
to the water’s edge. Still it was necessary to follow, 
having some fifty yards of line out. The fish was now 
in the shallows, rolling heavily at intervals with short 
sullen runs, during one of which I felt a slight “ draw ” 
—perhaps the hold of one hook had failed. W., going 
down through the trees to reconnoitre, reported the fish 
meget tret —“ tired.” For almost minutes at a time he 
lay inert in mid-stream, suffering himself to be towed 
ahead in the slack pool-tail without resistance. Had 
it now been possible to incline the rod inland , an 
opportunity to gaff might , it seemed probable, be 
