realise that the weapon had not
touched the gut. A. would get very nervous if you spoke to him under
these circumstances, and the ejaculation that would have only been
natural was therefore suppressed. Silently retiring a few steps
farther into the bushes, with tightly set lips, I could only hope for
the best. The best happened, and in a moment or two A. came up the
grassy slope with a glorious sea trout of 12 lb. impaled upon the gaff.
It was a mystery that the ending was of this kind, for on the shoulder
of the fish there was a rip quite six inches long, where the gaff, on
its errand of failure a few moments before, had shockingly scored the
flesh. "A good one for the last," I said, "now we will go home"; and
homewards we went, calling at the boat on our way down to string up the
rest of the spoil, which I counted and weighed there and then, and, as
I intimated earlier, found that it was exactly the record of my other
best day in August--eleven fish (but all sea trout) weighing 34 lb.

Having written so much of this last day with the sea trout, I find on
inquiry that there is no sign of H. yet, and that dinner will not be
ready for at least another hour. I therefore amuse myself by going
through my daily record, to tot up the gross returns. We are very
curiously fashioned, inside as well as out, and although, considering
the adverse circumstances which I have not failed to describe, I ought
to be contented, I find myself grieving. Will the reader guess for a
moment why? I will save his time by stating that it is because upon
adding up the daily jottings of my notebook, I find that I leave off
just 5 lb. short of 400 lb.--ninety-eight fish totalling 395 lb., not
including sundry bags of brown trout. This is hard, but it is too late
now to make the gross weight even figures. It is much too dark to go
out again, the tide would be all wrong if I did go out, yet had I known
that I was so near 400 lb. I should have remained on that river until I
had made it up.

The salmon fishing, I may take the opportunity of adding, was a
failure. But for the fact that we had hired the river for ten days, we
probably should never have gone to the trouble of making the two or
three attempts we did make. There had been some fine fish taken during
the weeks when we were occupied in sea-trout fishing. There had been
one of 57 lb. killed on a spoon, and on my first visit to our newly
acquired fishing, a party of young gentlemen,