of the homing and
parental instinct.

As the big grilse journeyed he went on growing daily, till by the time
he found himself back in the waters of the Gulf he was a good six pounds
in weight. As he mounted nearer the surface and drew inshore he passed
the mouths of various rivers and encountered swirling currents of
brackish water. At each of these river-mouths numbers of the host would
separate and turn up the freshening tide. But our grilse kept right on,
making unerringly for his mighty native stream. And those that continued
with him were more in number than those that turned aside.

It was during this journey down offshore that perils once more began to
assail the young salmon, perils which it took all his good luck and keen
activities to evade. For one thing, there were dogfish. These miniature
sharks, with their savage mouths set far under their snouts, were no
match for the grilse, or any of his kind, in speed; but the latter,
being unsuspicious, came very near being caught unawares. A swift surge
of his long fins and powerful tail saved him, just in time. He shot away
like a silver streak as the fierce jaws snapped sharply at his flank.
After that he kept his eyes alert on the approach of any fish in the
least degree larger than himself. And in the course of this
watchfulness he saw many of his kinsmen caught and torn to pieces by the
ravening dogfish, who are the very wolves of the sea.

Another and equally deadly peril was one that took several forms. Once
as he swam swiftly but easily onward, he saw a number of his companions,
who chanced to be a little ahead of him, stop abruptly and engage in
what seemed to him a meaningless struggle. Ever suspicious, he checked
himself and tried to make out what was the matter. The struggle was
desperate, but the adversary at first invisible. In a moment, however,
he detected a mesh of fine, brown lines, which seemed to surround and
grapple with the unfortunate fish. Not waiting to investigate further,
he retreated with a nervous flurry of speed. Then, since nothing could
divert his homeward impulse, he dived almost to the bottom and continued
his journey, not returning toward the dangerous surface till he was
nearly a mile beyond the throttling peril of the drift-net. But there
were yet other nets, and as he entered the great outrush of his native
river he encountered them on every side, stretched on rows of stakes
running far out into the channels. These "set nets",