232 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 



Don one day, in company with a friend, who might be 

 distant from me about sixty yards, seeing him engaged 

 with a fish which he finally succeeded in getting ashore. 

 At that distance I could not distinguish the size of the 

 fish, but I was struck with the length of time he was 

 occupied in manipulating upon the creature, before he 

 commenced to cast again. Presently, he came slowly 

 down towards me with his rod under his arm, his hands 

 held in front of him in a kind of appealing attitude, and 

 a somewhat rueful look on his countenance. A single 

 glance explained the situation ; the fact being that, con- 

 trary to all accepted notions on the subject, the fish had 

 caught the fisher. He was fishing with the three hooks, 

 the lowest of which only had fastened in the fish, — a 

 nice trout of over half a pound — and instead of killing the 

 animal at once, he was attempting first to disgorge the 

 hook; when with a sudden wallop the fish succeeded in 

 imbedding one of the loose hooks in the fleshy part of his 

 thumb, right over the barb. I at once cut away the gut 

 and threw down the fish ; and happening fortunately to 

 have a good knife, one of the blades of which had a lancet 

 point, I managed, after a little surgical operation, to 

 dislodge the hook, not, however, without inflicting some 

 pain, as was evinced by sundry wincings on the part of 

 my patient. We had just commenced fishing, conse- 

 quently, if my friend had been alone, his day's sport 

 would have been done for, and that through an accident 

 which a little care and forethought would have prevented. 

 It was during one of my visits to St. Boswells, in a 

 deep dark pool opposite the village of Maxton, that I had 



