his last day in the
Highlands. It is an open question whether he did not forget altogether
that he was _in_ the Highlands, so absorbed, so intensely concentrated,
was his mind on that salmon. George and Fred also became so excited
that they lost all command of themselves, and kept leaping about,
cheering, giving useless advice in eager tones, tripping over stones and
uneven places on the banks, and following their father closely, as the
fish led him up and down the river for full two hours. They, too,
forgot themselves; they did not know what extraordinary faces they went
on making during the greater part of the time!

Mr Sudberry began the battle by winding up the line, the salmon having
begun to push slowly up stream after its first wild burst. In a moment
it made a dart towards the opposite bank, so sudden and swift that the
rod was pulled straight, and the line ran out with a whiz of the most
violent description. Almost simultaneously with the whiz the salmon
leaped its entire length out of the water, gave a tremendous fling in
the air, and came down with a heavy splash!

Fred gasped; George cheered, and Mr Sudberry uttered a roar of
astonishment, mingled with alarm, for the line was slack, and he thought
the fish had broken off. It was still on, however, as a wild dash down
stream, followed by a spurt up and across, with another fling into the
air, proved beyond a doubt. The fish was very wild--fortunately it was
well hooked, and the tackle was strong. What with excitement and the
violent action that ensued at each rush, Mr Sudberry was so dreadfully
blown in the first minutes, that he trembled from head to foot, and
could scarce wind up the line. For one moment the thought occurred that
he was too old to become a salmon-fisher, and that he would not be able
to fight the battle out. He was quite mistaken. Every minute after
this he seemed to gain fresh strength. The salmon happily took it into
his head to cease its antics for half a minute, just when the fisher was
at his worst. That half-minute of breathing-space was all that was
wanted.

"Geo'ge--hah!--cut--wata!"

George could not make out what his agitated parent wanted.

"Water! water!--chokin'!" reiterated his father.

"Oh, all right!" George scooped up a quantity of water in a leathern
cup, and ran with it to his choking sire, who, holding the rod tight
with both hands, turned his head aside and stretched over his left arm,
still, howeve