IN THE HIGHLANDS 163 



sending down a message to us at Pool House, asking 

 my mother and me to come up to the inn and to witness 

 the weighing of the fish he had brought back that day, 

 in case his own statements might be doubted in future 

 years. There were four beauties lying side by side on 

 the table of the small drinking-room, and they turned 

 the scales at 51 pounds. The total weight of the twelve 

 fish caught that 12th day of April by trolling was 

 87 pounds 12 ounces, made up thus: 14 pounds 8 ounces, 

 12 pounds 8 ounces, 12 pounds 4 ounces, 12 pounds, 

 10 pounds, 6 pounds 12 ounces, 6 pounds 8 ounces, 

 3 pounds, 3 pounds, 2 pounds 12 ounces, 2 pounds 

 8 ounces, 2 pounds. 



Sir Alexander did very well on many of the other 

 days, even in March. He was so energetic that, in 

 order to lose as little time as possible in going to 

 and from the loch, he sometimes put up at the Srathan 

 Mor shepherd's house with my enemy, Jock Beatie 

 of the sea-eagle's eggs. Before leaving he gave my 

 mother an exact list of every trout he caught during 

 his stay, with all the dates and weights. This list we 

 always retained in our possession. As Sir Alexander 

 had also a great name as a crack shot, we were keen to 

 see him perform with the gun, so the day before he 

 left Poole we my mother and my uncle, who was then 

 residing on his model Isle of Ewe farm, planned an 

 expedition with him to the pigeon caves at the point of 

 Cove to test his reputation. The sea proved too rough 

 for him to shoot from the boat the pigeons as they came 

 out of the cave, so he had t© do the best he could from 

 the tops of the caves, and the pigeons very nearly beat 



