i62 FISHING IN RIVER, STREAM, AND LOCH 



birchen boughs. Yet the triumph of tasting blood, in 

 the circumstances, at your very first venture on the 

 water ! And already there is a spectator of your 

 prowess on the opposite shore, in the person of the 

 head-keeper of your neighbour's shootings. 



Duncan is moved with envy, and sneeringly critical ; 

 and by way of calming your nerves, when so much 

 depends on coolness, your own attendant has forgotten 

 his self-restraint, and is shouting out unheeded counsels. 

 As to the fish, to all appearance he is quite capable of 

 taking care of himself. He made his rush in most 

 serious earnest, and it is to be hoped that he is securely 

 hooked. But your fly is small, and the casting-line 

 fine, both having been chosen in consideration of the 

 lowness of the river. A slack in the line, a slight 

 friction on the stones on the rugged bottom, and all 

 may be lost, honour included. And your antagonist 

 would appear to be as wily as he is powerful. After 

 that first movement of natural irritation, and the rush 

 that tested the strength of your hold, he has dived 

 calmly into the depths, where he has gone to working 

 quietly at extrication. To your gentle tightening of 

 the strain, he opposes a sturdy, passive resistance. 

 " Keep those reel-steps of yours till you next take the 

 floor to the pipes, Donald, and favour him with a stone 

 judiciously thrown." Ha ! he may be a sagacious fish, 

 but he is by no means a sullen one. He had hoped to 

 get rid of his silent sorrow without having to shift his 

 defensible quarters ; but now, as you mean fighting, 

 you shall have it. He makes a shoot like a submerged 



