h he was out of sorts, and had been pretty well
worked day by day, was for towing the boat up-stream and fishing the
whole river down again, but to this I objected. There was no use in
working a willing horse to death; and perhaps I might also honestly say
that by this time I was a trifle tired myself. We therefore left the
boat at its usual moorings half-way, and plodded up through the sloppy
marsh and over the slippery rocks to the desired spot. I wanted no
more two- or three-pounders, and, in a sort of care-nothing spirit,
decided upon a Butcher, of small salmon-fly size, this being perhaps
one of the very best all-round patterns for Norwegian waters. A few
casts tested the hold where my sea trout of the morning lay, but he was
still obdurate, unless he had adopted the unlikely course of pushing
upwards since our transient interview.

I pulled out a few more yards of line, and fished farther out over
water that was deeper and not of high repute as the halting-stage of
sea trout. But I had my reward presently in a determined assault upon
the fly, delivered well under water.

It might here be mentioned that at the tapering point of the island,
some fifty yards below, a swift branch stream, created by the island,
poured in; and again fifty yards farther on there was a general
conjunction of streams and eddies, making a leaping, roaring toss of
broken water, with a tremendously heavy, sliding volume to the left.
Below this lively meeting-place the concentrated currents swept round
furiously under the cliff at right angles. It was tolerably certain
disaster to one party if ever a fish got so far as that. To be
forewarned was, however, to be forearmed, and, knowing the dangers of
the position, we always examined our cast beforehand, so that, in case
of the tug of war, defeat should not be caused by defective gut. It
was evident from the very beginning that I was now at issue with a
heavy fish of some kind. There was that short steady run deep in the
water which we all like; no foolish pirouetting at the end of the line
on the top of the water here. The rod was arched to its utmost;
everything was splendidly taut. It was one of those combats when the
fisherman feels that he may, when challenged, plant his feet wide apart
and lean bodily against what he is holding.

After the preliminary canter the fish made a gallant rush straight
down, shot like an arrow past the end of the island, and, hesitating an
instant,