pling merrily,
but that was quite out of the orthodox limits of the run. I had the
second turn down, rose two, hooked one, and killed one. "Sarcelle" had
the third handling of the rod, and killed one fish without moving any
of the others. The place that evening seemed to be alive with grilse,
and there was an undoubted salmon that had escaped below. It was too
late, however, to give the pool the necessary rest and fish it down
again; but we were up early in the morning, to find that our grilse
during the night had left the country.

After a fortnight's miscellaneous sport from The Rocks, during which
the grilse proved themselves to be as game as fish could be, frequently
running down into the rough water a hundred yards before we could get
on terms with them, we began to discover that even in this essentially
good place the water was too thin. If the grilse were running at all,
they no longer stopped in the old haunts; but the neck of the lower
pool gave us fish occasionally. But during the last three days what
had been here dark, deep water became a rough stream, which clearly
revealed the yellow boulders at the bottom. On our very last morning
"Sarcelle," who had been disappointed throughout in not getting a good
salmon, determined to make a final attempt from The Rocks where he had
made his first. I had packed up on the previous night, and was ready
for breakfast at eight o'clock, with all my goods stowed away on the
carriage, when he triumphantly appeared with an 8-lb. salmon and a
5-lb. grilse. He had caught them in this newly formed rapid, the
salmon being close by the side.

The Rocks, however, were troublesome when they were slippery, but there
were little niches and crevices on their shoulders and sides, from
which grew flowering ling and tiny seedling pines, by the aid of which
we could manage to insert the edge of a boot sole somewhere and hold
on. "Sarcelle" one evening had hooked a capital fish in pretty strong
water, and had to follow it as best he could over The Rocks. Generally
very sure-footed, on this occasion he tumbled on his back, keeping the
rod all the time in his hands, but of course making a slack line. The
fish was still on when he regained his feet and tightened up, but the
relaxation had been fatal, and the grilse presently escaped.

The Rocks, as I have said, were our favourite spot. When the water
became too low for ferrying across in the boat we had to walk about
half a mil