"A WEE BIT GILSE" 99 



face that I had anticipated, neither did he seem to 

 regard me with the least degree of veneration ; but, 

 giving my pet a shove with his nasty iron-shod 

 shoes, he simply said, 



" Hout ! that's a wee bit gilse." 



This was laconic. I could hold no longer, for I 

 hate a detractor ; so I roundly told him that I did 

 not think he had ever caught so large a fish in all 

 his life. 



" Did you, now ? — own." 



" I suppose I have." 



" Suppose ! But don't you know ? " 



" I suppose I have." 



" Speak decidedly, yes or no. That is no 

 answer." 



"Well, then, I suppose 1 I have." 



And this was the sum-total of what I could 

 extract from this nil admirari fellow. 



A third person now joined us, whom I after- 

 wards discovered to be the renter of that part of 

 the river. He had a rod and tackle of the selfsame 

 fashion with the apathetic man. He touched his 

 bonnet to me ; and if he did not eye me with 

 approval, at least he did not look envious or 

 sarcastic. 



"Well, Sandy," said he to his piscatorial 

 friend, my new acquaintance, "what luck the 

 morn ? " 



" I canna speecify that I hae had muckle ; for 

 they hae bin at the sheep-washing up bye, and she 

 is foul, ye ken. But I hae ta'en twa saumon, — 



1 Suppose, in Scotch, does not imply a doubt, but denotes a cer- 

 tainty. 



