1 64 FISHING IN RIVER, STREAM, AND LOCH 



gallant fish he is, and makes more than one desperate 

 rally, but he can by no means avoid his destiny. 

 Answering to steady, irresistible persuasion, he is being 

 manoeuvred in easy beauty curves towards the bank, 

 with an occasional wallop of unavailing remonstrance ; 

 and Donald, bending over the stream in an attitude of 

 sanguinary expectation, has driven home the clip behind 

 his shoulder. " 'Deed, sir, she's a fine fush, whatever," 

 is his remark, as he stoops to relieve " her " lovingly of 

 the hook. And then he calls your attention to how 

 near a thing it was. For the hook has worked a fissure 

 in the lip, and merely holds by the skin ; and the line 

 has been frayed below the shank to something like 

 threads of gossamer. For a spirit so courageous, what 

 end could have been more becoming ? so that there is 

 but the faintest tinge of compassion to dash the exhila- 

 ration of the triumph. 



So much for the excitements of the sport ; but there 

 are anglers and anglers, as we observed before, and we 

 may turn by way of contrast to scenes of calmer enjoy- 

 ment, when the name of the u gentle craft " becomes 

 more appropriate. For one man who has killed salmon 

 in the Scottish and Scandinavian rivers, there are hun- 

 dreds of skilful brothers of the angle who have never 

 cast a fly save in streams we might call Cockney. 

 Masters of their branch of the craft they often are, and 

 almost invariably passionate enthusiasts. No men are 

 better versed in the times and the seasons : no men 

 have more inexhaustible stores of patience ; have a 

 more intimate acquaintance with local entomology, 



