forgotten the pot."

"What pot?" said R----.

"Why, the copper one, of course," retorted P----. "The knives and forks
are in it, and the tea and sugar."

"Avast pulling!" said the Coxswain.

"We must go back," said R----.

"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