dashed downward
through a smother of broken water which held so much air in it that it
almost choked him, and shot into a great, deep, swirling pool where
many "slinks" and a few slim smelts like himself were swimming lazily
hither and thither. He had successfully made the descent of the South
Branch Falls, though, in his ignorance of the best channel, he had
missed the solid water, and come down through the smother.

After a very brief rest in the basin below the Falls, to recover his
self-possession, the smelt, with many other migrants, resumed his
seaward journey. The Great South presently, with a long rush, united its
waters with those of the main Quahdavic. Down this full-flowing stream
he swam steadily for three uneventful days, to find himself at length in
a mighty river whose amber-brown current was a surprise to him after the
clear, greenish floods in which he had been born. It took him several
days, journeying leisurely, and feeding moderately as he went, to get
accustomed to the change in the water. And barely had he become
accustomed to it when another and more startling change confronted him.
The current, flowing strongly in one direction, would change for a time
and flow directly against him. This was confusing. But it was not by any
means the worst. A strange, bitter taste was in the water. The great
salt tides were rushing up to welcome him. He was nearing the sea.

At first the brackishness in the water repelled him; but almost at once
he found himself accepting it with avidity. At the same time he could
not but observe a sudden awakening of interest in life among the languid
"slinks". They began to show a better appetite, to move about more
alertly, to make themselves more dangerous to the smaller fish that
crossed their paths. The water grew more and more salt,--with an ever
increasing zest to it which made the smelt amazingly keen for his food.
Then the shield of ice above him, beneath which he had so long
travelled, suddenly vanished, and through long, free shoreless waves he
felt the sunlight streaming down to him unimpeded. The water was now no
longer tawny brown, but green. He had reached the sea.

For some reason which he could never have explained,--for he certainly
felt no affection for them,--the smelt, with others like himself, kept
travelling more or less in the company of the reviving "slinks". Like
all the rest of the strong-*finned, silver-sided host, he was now
feeding with a ravenou