"Very good, my Lord. Easy, starboard oars," again said the Coxswain; and in a quarter of an hour, we were taking the copper kettle into the gig, which P—— placed quietly away, within his reach and sight, in the stern sheets.
As we rowed on, our fingers (bringing to my recollection my school-days) would occasionally be thrust over the boat's side into the water to test its temperature; for it had been hinted to P—— at Christiansand, that the rivers might yet be too cold for the salmon to leave the sea and enter them.
The Toptdal River is narrow, shallow, and swift of current; so that it is no facile task to contend with its rapidity and force. When we had proceeded about half-way, the boat and its crew were left to contend with the stream, and we commenced walking.
It was now seven o'clock; and, though we were sheltered from the sun's rays by the huge mountain-shadows, the air was warm, and I felt in a short time as greatly fatigued as if it were a dog-day in England.
P——, who, as I said before, was excessively fond of fishing, led the van; and, as we toiled along the bank of the river, would, himself insensible of weariness, scramble down declivities to its edge whenever the projecting rocks formed a kind of pool, and, scrambling up to us again, would assert with emphasis, the convincing proofs the river showed of containing much fish. He would, likewise, plunge his hand into the tide, and deem it temperate in the extreme.
"There now," he said, as we turned a point of land, and saw below us a small bay formed by the indentation of the river,—"there now; do you mean to say there's no fish there?"
"I should think there were a great many," replied R——.
The river flowed on, and brought on its surface the foam of some neighbouring foss, floating unbroken in small lumps like soap-suds; which, borne by the eddying stream, revolved round and round a piece of fallen rock elevated a little above the water. P——, with the eye of a fisherman, gazed on the little bay; and it was with difficulty we could dissuade him from putting his rod together and having a cast. However, we did eventually dissuade him; but he had barely gone on in front, with his usual velocity of motion, when, at the suggestion of R——, I hurled a good-sized stone into the centre of the pool which had so riveted P——'s fancy.
"By Jove!" he shouted, and, starting back, "did you hear that? It was a rise. Holloa!" and he hailed the boat which was struggling against the stream on the opposite bank. He seemed now determined to throw a fly; but the night was so near at hand, and Boom was yet so distant, that we exhorted him to mark the spot for our return on the following day.
"Why, my dear fellow, in two minutes I shall have a bite. Walk on, I'll follow."