FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   >>   >|  
spent the time. At the third cast there was a splash and a sudden silvery gleam, and a tightening of the line. Then the reel clinked furiously, a bright shape flashed through the froth of the eddy, and went down, after which the line ripped athwart the surface of the pool. Weston, who whipped up the net, waded in knee-deep. "Keep the butt down!" he called. "Reel in! Take up every inch of slack." The fish broke the surface and went down again, and a flush of crimson crept into Ida's face as she stood quivering while the line went round the pool. Then the strain eased a little, and she spun the reel, until the fish, showing a gleaming side in the swing of the eddy, made a rush again. "Hold on this time," said Weston. "It's making for the drift-log. There are branches under it." The rod bent, but the moving line led straight toward the drift-log, until, in a moment, it stopped suddenly. Ida turned to the man with a gasp. "It's in under those branches," she said. Weston, glancing at the line, threw down the net, for, though he scarcely had expected this, the fish evidently had not snapped the gut trace, which was now entangled among the broken branches. "Give me some slack when I call," he said. It was rather a long jump, but he managed to reach the butt of the log, and he scrambled along it toward its thinner top, which stretched out along the side of the rock. There was deep water under it, and the eddy swung fiercely toward the rapid which swept on to the fall; but the trunk provided a tolerably safe pathway to one accustomed to the bush, and he reached a spot where a snapped-off branch projected into the river. Then, stripping off his jacket, he lay down and crawled along the branch. As he lowered one arm and shoulder into the water, it seemed to Ida that the log rolled a little, and when he raised himself again, with the water dripping from him, she called out to warn him. "The log's not safe," she said. It was not evident that Weston heard her through the roar of the short rapid above the fall, for he lowered himself once more. Ida was quite sure that the trunk tilted a little now, but when he turned a wet face toward her, in her eagerness she forgot that the thing might be perilous. Weston did not notice that he was disturbing the equilibrium of the tree. "Let your reel run!" he cried. He groped around among the branches, with a good deal of the upper part of his body under water, and
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Weston
 

branches

 

lowered

 

turned

 

branch

 
snapped
 
surface
 

called

 
jacket
 

accustomed


reached

 

projected

 
stripping
 

groped

 
stretched
 

thinner

 
fiercely
 
pathway
 

tolerably

 

provided


notice

 

forgot

 

eagerness

 

tilted

 

evident

 

rolled

 

raised

 

shoulder

 

perilous

 

dripping


disturbing

 
equilibrium
 

crawled

 

showing

 

strain

 
quivering
 

gleaming

 
making
 

clinked

 
furiously

bright
 

flashed

 
athwart
 
whipped
 

crimson

 

ripped

 
tightening
 

entangled

 
broken
 

expected