The Captain was having his after-dinner nap when Nic took down one of
the rods which always hung ready in the hall, glanced at the fly to see
if it was all right, and then crossed the garden to the fields. He
turned off towards the river, from which, deep down in the lovely combe,
came a low, murmurous, rushing sound, quite distinct from a deep, sullen
roar from the thick woodland a few hundred yards to his right.
"No fishing to-day," he said, and he rested his rod against one of the
sturdy dwarf oaks which sheltered the house from the western gales, and
then walked on, drawing in deep draughts of the soft salt air and
enjoying the beauty of the scene around.
For the old estate had been well chosen by the Revels of two hundred
years earlier; and, look which way he might, up or down the miniature
valley, there were the never-tiring beauties of one of the most
delightful English districts.
The murmur increased as the young man strode on down the rugged slope,
or leaped from mossy stone to stone, amongst heather, furze, and fern,
to where the steep sides of the combe grew more thickly clothed with
trees, in and amongst which the sheep had made tracks like a map of the
little valley, till all at once he stood at the edge of a huge mass of
rock, gazing through the leaves at the foaming brown water which washed
the base of the natural wall, and eddied and leaped and tore on along
its zigzag bed, onward towards the sea.
From where he stood he gazed straight across at the other side of the
combe, one mass of greens of every tint, here lit up by the sun, there
deep in shadow; while, watered by the soft moist air and mists which
rose from below, everything he gazed upon was rich and luxuriant in the
extreme.
"The rain must have been tremendous up in the moor," thought the young
man, as he gazed down into the lovely gully at the rushing water, which
on the previous day had been a mere string of stony pools connected by a
trickling stream, some of them deep and dark, the haunts of the salmon
which came up in their season from the sea. "What a change! Yesterday,
all as clear as crystal; now, quite a golden brown."
Then, thinking of how the salmon must be taking advantage of the little
flood to run up higher to their spawning-grounds among the hills, Nic
turned off to his right to follow a rugged track along the cliff-like
side, sometimes low down, sometimes high up; now in deep shadow, now in
openings where the sun shot through to make the hurrying waters sparkle
and flash.
The young man went on and on for quite a quarter of a mile, with the
sullen roar increasing till it became one deep musical boom; and,
turning a corner where a portion of the cliff overhung the narrow path,
and long strands of ivy hung down away from the stones, he stepped out
of a green twilight into broad sunshine, to stand upon a shelf of rock,
gazing into a circular pool some hundred feet across.
Here was the explanation of the deep, melodious roar. For, to his
right, over what resembled a great eight-foot-high step in the valley,
the whole of the little river plunged down from the continuation of the
gorge, falling in one broad cascade in a glorious curve right into the
pool, sending up a fine spray which formed a cloud, across which, like a
bridge over the fall, the lovely tints of a rainbow played from time to
time.
It was nothing new to Nic, that amphitheatre, into which he had gazed
times enough ever since he was a child; but it had never seemed more
lovely, nor the growth which fringed it from the edge of the water to
fifty or sixty feet above his head more beautiful and green.
But he had an object in coming, and, following the shelf onward, he was
soon standing level with the side of the fall, gazing intently at the
watery curve and right into the pool where the water foamed and plunged
down, rose a few yards away, and then set in a regular stream round and
round the amphitheatre, a portion flowing out between two huge
buttresses of granite, and then hurrying downstream.
Nic was about fifteen feet above the surface of the chaos of water, and
a little above the head of the pool; while below him were blocks of
stone, dripping bushes, and grasses, and then an easy descent to where
he might have stood dry-shod and gazed beneath the curve of the falling
water, as he had stood scores of times before.
But his attention was fixed upon the curve, and as he watched he saw
something silvery flash out of the brown water and fall back into the
pool where the foam was thickest.
Again he saw it, and this time it disappeared without falling back. For
the salmon, fresh from the sea, were leaping at the fall to gain the
upper waters of the river.
It was a romantic scene, and Nic stood watching for some minutes,
breathing the moist air, while the spray began to gather upon his
garments, and the deep musical boom reverberated from the rocky sides of
the chasm.
It was a grand day for the fish, and he was thinking that there would be
plenty of them right up the river for miles, for again and again he saw
salmon flash into sight as, by one tremendous spring and beat of their
tails, they made their great effort to pass the obstacle in their way.
"Plenty for every one," he said to himself; "and plenty left for us," he
added, as he saw other fish fail and drop back into the foam-covered
amber and black water, to sail round with the stream, and in all
probability--for their actions could not be seen--rest from their
tremendous effort, and try again.
All at once, after Nic had been watching for some minutes without seeing
sign of a fish, there was a flash close in to where he stood, and a
large salmon shot up, reached the top of the fall, and would have passed
on, but fortune was against it. For a moment it rested on the edge, and
its broad tail and part of its body glistened as a powerful stroke was
made with the broad caudal fin.
But it was in the air, not in the water; and the next moment the great
fish was falling, when, quick as its own spring up, there was a sudden
movement from behind one of the great stones at the foot of the fall
just below where Nic stood, and the salmon was caught upon a sharp hook
at the end of a stout ash pole and dragged shoreward, flapping and
struggling with all its might.
The efforts were in vain, for its captor drew it in quickly, raising the
pole more and more till it was nearly perpendicular, as he came out from
behind the great block of dripping stone which had hidden him from Nic,
and, as it happened, stepped backward, till his fish was clear of the
water.
It was all the matter of less than a minute. The man, intent upon his
fish--a magnificent freshly-run salmon, glittering in its silver
scales--passed hand over hand along his pole, released his right, and
was in the act of reaching down to thrust a hooked finger in the opening
and closing gills to make sure of his prize in the cramped-up space he
occupied, when the end of the stout ash staff struck Nic sharply on his
leg.
But the man did not turn, attributing the hindrance to his pole having
encountered a stone or tree branch above his head, and any movement made
by Nic was drowned by the roar of the fall.
The blow upon the leg was sharp, and gave intense pain to its recipient,
whose temper was already rising at the cool impudence of the stout,
bullet-headed fellow, trespassing and poaching in open daylight upon the
Captain's grounds.
Consequently, Nic did take notice of the blow.
Stooping down as the end of the pole wavered in the air, he made a
snatch at and seized it, gave it a wrench round as the man's finger was
entering the gill of the salmon, and the hook being reversed, the fish
dropped off, there was a slight addition to the splashing in the pool,
and then it disappeared.
The next moment the man twisted himself round, holding on by the pole,
and stared up; while Nic, still holding on by the other end, leaned over
and stared down.
It was a curious picture, and for some moments neither stirred, the
poacher's not ill-looking face expressing profound astonishment at this
strange attack.
Then a fierce look of anger crossed it, and, quick as thought, he made a
sharp snatch, which destroyed Nic's balance, making him loosen his hold
of the pole and snatch at the nearest branch to check his fall.
He succeeded, but only for a moment, just sufficient to save himself and
receive another heavy blow from the pole, which made him lose his hold
and slip, more than fall, down to where he was on the same level with
his adversary, who drew back to strike again.
But Nic felt as if his heart was on fire. The pain of the blows
thrilled him, and, darting forward with clenched fists, he struck the
poacher full in the mouth before the pole could swing round.
There was the faint whisper of a hoarse yell as the man fell back; Nic
saw his hands clutching in the air, then he went backward into the
boiling water, while the end of the pole was seen to rise above the
surface for a moment or two, and then glide towards the bottom of the
fall and disappear.
For the current, as it swung round the pool, set towards the falling
water on the surface, and rushed outward far below.
Nic's rage died out more quickly than it had risen, and he craned
forward, white as ashes now, watching for the rising of his adversary
out somewhere towards the other side; while, as if in triumphant mockery
or delight at the danger having been removed, another huge salmon leaped
up the fall.