‘Lohi on, lohi on! That’s a salmon, that’s a salmon!’ shouted the Lapp.
‘Yes, yes,’ said I; ‘but surely you aren’t afraid of a salmon? Why, a salmon is what we want for dinner!’
At that very moment the salmon took a vigorous leap of three feet into the air, so that the evening sun glittered on its shining silvery scales, and it fell again with a splash.
‘Iso on! It is a big one!’ said the Lapp.
‘Yes, it’s an eighteen-pounder,’ I replied. ‘I have taken so many of them with the line that I am not far wrong, if I can only see the fish once.’
Another leap into the air, and it became so tractable that we were able to row with it towards our encampment. There I landed, and soon had it close to the shore; then, with a final effort, it was off again into the middle and deepest part of the river. It was, however, quite powerless to rise, and lay flat on its side. The line was quickly wound in, and the fish guided to the shore through deep water, when the Lapp plunged the spear into it. It was ours, and weighed eighteen and a half pounds. So we had enough fish for ourselves and for the men.
As if by a preconcerted arrangement, at the very same moment a double report was heard, one shot immediately after the other, from a bleak spot a little distance off. The sportsman had come upon some ptarmigan. He is a crack shot, as the two reports following each other so quickly showed. Immediately afterwards two more shots were heard. Clearly we had got three young birds at least, one for each of us.
‘But how about the cloudberries?’ I remarked to the botanist, who was standing and gazing at the salmon.
‘Oh, I have sent a Lapp to pick them,’ he replied; ‘he knows better than I do where to find them.’
While we were cutting up the salmon the sportsman and Pan [[6]]returned. The latter seemed quite crestfallen at the expedition having proved such a short one.