sk the salmon would leap clear into the air
just as Brighteye came to the surface after his first dive, and once so
near was a sportive fish that the vole became confused for the moment by
the sudden turmoil of the "rise," and rocked on the swell of the
back-wash like a boat on the waves of a tossing sea. During the summer
Brighteye had suffered nothing, beyond this one sudden fright, from the
visits of the great silvery fish to the neighbourhood of his home; and,
notwithstanding his experience, he was accustomed to dive boldly into
the depths of the "hovers," and even to regard without fear the approach
of an unusually inquisitive salmon. Late in the autumn, however,
Brighteye noticed, with unaccountable misgiving, a distinct change in
the appearance of these passing visitors. The silvery sheen had died
away from their scales, and had been succeeded by a dark, dull red; and
the fish were sluggish and ill-tempered. Besides, they were so numerous,
especially after a heavy rainfall, that the stream seemed barely able
to afford them room in their favourite "hovers," and the old trout,
previously an easy master of the situation, found it almost beyond his
powers to keep trespassers from his particular haunt in mid-current at
the throat of the pool. So occupied was he with this duty that he seldom
roamed into the little bays beneath the alder-fringes; and Brighteye, so
long as he avoided the rapid, was fairly safe from his attack. The
reed-bed, though partly submerged, still yielded the vole sufficient
food; and to reach it straight from his home he had to pass through the
shallows, which extended for a considerable distance up-stream and
down-stream from the gravelly stretch immediately outside the reeds.

About the beginning of winter, when the migration of the salmon had
become intermittent, and the sea-trout had all passed upward beyond the
pool, two of the big, ugly "red fish," late arrivals at the "hover"
nearest the burrow, made a close inspection of the pool; then, instead
of following their kindred to the further reaches, they fell back toward
the tail of the stream and there remained. After the first week of
their stay, Brighteye found them so ill-tempered that he dared not
venture anywhere near the tail of the stream; and, as the big trout at
the top of the pool showed irritation at the least disturbance, the vole
was forced to wander down the bank, to a spot below the salmon, before
crossing the river on his perio