After this bad luck I had no run until the evening, when, putting on a
large bait, and fishing at the tail of a rock between the stream and
still water, I once more had a fine rush, and hooked a big one. There
were no rocks down stream, all was fair play and clear water, and away
he went at racing pace straight for the middle of the river. To check
the pace I grasped the line with the stuff of my loose trousers, and
pressed it between my fingers so as to act as a brake and compel him to
labor for every yard; but he pulled like a horse, and nearly cut through
the thick cotton cloth, making straight running for at least a hundred
yards without a halt. I now put so severe a strain upon him that my
strong bamboo bent nearly double, and the fish presently so far yielded
to the pressure that I could enforce his running in half circles instead
of straight away. I kept gaining line until I at length led him into a
shallow bay, and after a great fight Bacheet embraced him by falling
upon him and clutching the monster with hands and knees; he then tugged
to the shore a magnificent fish of upward of sixty pounds. For about
twenty minutes lie had fought against such a strain as I had never
before used upon a fish; but I had now adopted hooks of such a large
size and thickness that it was hardly possible for them to break, unless
snapped by a crocodile.
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