r, keeping his eyes fixed on the line.

"Here, up with't lips."

The lips were projected, and George raised the cup to them, but the
salmon moved at the moment, and the draught was postponed. The fish
came to another pause soon after.

"Now, Geo'ge, try 'gain."

Once more the lips were projected, once again the cup was raised, but
that salmon seemed to know what was going on, for, just as the cup and
the lips met, it went off in an unusually fierce run down the river.
The cup and its contents were knocked into George's face, and George
himself was knocked over by his father as he sprang down the bank, and
ran along a dry patch of gravel, which extended to the tail of the pool.

Hitherto the battle had been fought within the limits of one large pool,
which the fish seemed to have an objection to quit. It now changed its
tactics, and began to descend the river tail foremost, slowly, but
steadily. The round face of the fisher, which had all this time been
blazing red with eager hope, was now beclouded with a shade of anxiety.

"Don't let him go down the rapids, father," said George; "you'll never
get past the thick bushes that overhang the bank."

Mr Sudberry stopped, and held on till the rod bent like a giant hoop
and the line became rigid; but the fish was not to be checked. Its
retrograde movement was slow, but steady and irresistible.

"You'll smash everything!" cried Fred. Mr Sudberry was constrained to
follow, step by step. The head of the rapid was gained, and he had to
increase the pace to a quick walk; still farther down, and the walk
became a smart run. The ground here was more rugged, and the fisher's
actions became quite acrobatic. George and Fred kept higher up the
bank, and ran along, gazing in unspeakable amazement at the bounds and
leaps which their fat little sire made with the agility of a roe deer.

"Hold on! the bushes! let it break off!"

Mr Sudberry scorned the advice. The part of the bank before him was
impassable; not so the river, which rushed past him like a mill-race.
He tried once more to stop the fish; failed, of course, and deliberately
walked into the water. It was waist-deep, so he was carried down like a
cork with his toes touching the ground so lightly, that, for the first
time in his life, he rejoiced in those sensations, which he had hitherto
believed belonged exclusively to harlequins and columbines; namely,
swift motion without effort! Fifty yards at the rate of te