The scene was inexpressibly animating to those accustomed to it; but,
as Brown was not practised to use the spear, he soon tired of making
efforts which were attended with no other consequences than jarring his
arms against the rocks at the bottom of the river, upon which, instead
of the devoted salmon, he often bestowed his blow. Nor did he relish,
though he concealed feelings which would not have been understood,
being quite so near the agonies of the expiring salmon, as they lay
flapping about in the boat, which they moistened with their blood. He
therefore requested to be put ashore, and, from the top of a heugh or
broken bank, enjoyed the scene much more to his satisfaction. Often he
thought of his friend Dudley the artist, when he observed the effect
produced by the strong red glare on the romantic banks under which the
boat glided. Now the light diminished to a distant star that seemed to
twinkle on the waters, like those which, according to the legends of
the country, the water-kelpy sends for the purpose of indicating the
watery grave of his victims. Then it advanced nearer, brightening and
enlarging as it again approached, till the broad flickering flame
rendered bank and rock and tree visible as it passed, tingeing them
with its own red glare of dusky light, and resigning them gradually to
darkness, or to pale moonlight, as it receded. By this light also were
seen the figures in the boat, now holding high their weapons, now
stooping to strike, now standing upright, bronzed by the same red glare
into a colour which might have befitted the regions of Pandemonium.
Having amused himself for some time with these effects of light and
shadow, Brown strolled homewards towards the farm-house, gazing in his
way at the persons engaged in the sport, two or three of whom are
generally kept together, one holding the torch, the others with their
spears, ready to avail themselves of the light it affords to strike
their prey. As he observed one man struggling with a very weighty
salmon which he had speared, but was unable completely to raise from
the water, Brown advanced close to the bank to see the issue of his
exertions. The man who held the torch in this instance was the
huntsman, whose sulky demeanour Brown had already noticed with
surprise. 'Come here, sir! come here, sir! look at this ane! He turns
up a side like a sow.' Such was the cry from the assistants when some
of them observed Brown advancing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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