But he was very cautious; and bade her take time; and spoke in an equable voice—just as if she were not growing desperate, and wondering how long her arms would hold out! Again and again, by dint of tight reeling up and putting on a deadly strain, she caught a glimpse of the salmon; and each of these times she thought she could guide it sailingly towards the spot where Ronald was crouching down by the rocks; and then again it would turn and head away and disappear—taking the line very slowly now, but still taking it. She took advantage of one of these pauses in the fight to step farther back some two or three yards; this was at Ronald’s direction; and she obeyed without understanding. But soon she knew the reason; for at last the salmon seemed to come floating in without even an effort at refusal; and as she was called on to give him the butt firmly, she found she could almost drag him right up and under Ronald’s arm. And then there was a loud ’hurrah!’ from the lad John as the big silver fish gleamed in the air; and the next second it was lying there on the withered grass and bracken. Miss Carry, indeed, was so excited that she came near to breaking the top of the rod; she forgot that the struggle was over; and still held on tightly. ’Lower the top, Miss,’ the lad John said, ’or ye can put the rod down altogether.’ Indeed he took it from her to lay it down safely, and right glad was she; for she was pretty well exhausted by this time, and fain to take a seat on one of the rocks while they proceeded to weigh the salmon with a pocket-scale. ’Seventeen pounds—and a beauty: as pretty a fish as ever I saw come out of the loch.’ ’Well, we’ve managed it, Ronald,’ said she, laughing, ’but I don’t know how. There he is—sure; but how we got him out of that hurricane I can’t tell.’ ’There was twice I thought ye had lost him,’ said he gravely. ’The line got desperately slack after ye jumped ashore——’ ’Jumped ashore?’ she said. ’Seems to me I was flung ashore, like a sack of old clothes.’ ’But ye were not hurt?’ said he, glancing quickly at her. ’No, no; not a bit—nor even wet; and if I had been, _that_ is enough for anything.’ ’Johnnie, lad, get some rushes, and put the fish in the box. We’ll have a surprise for them when we get back, I’m thinking.’ ’And can we get back?’ she said. ’We’ll try, anyway—oh yes—it’s no so bad now.’ But still it was a stiff pull; and they did not think it worth while to put out the line again. Miss Carry devoted her whole attention to sheltering herself from the spray; and was fairly successful. When, at length, they reached the top of the loch and landed, they were treated to a little mild sarcasm from those who had prudently remained on shore; but they said nothing; the time was not yet come.