ON THE LYOX. 189 



clachan, a shoemaker said something in Gaelic to 

 a knot of gossips around him. "What's that, 

 Mac?" "He jist says, sir, we may turn aboot 

 hame, for ye might as weel throw a flee on the 

 hee-road as on the Lyon the day." 



I am afraid this well-meant hint did not pro- 

 duce the effect intended, but very much the con- 

 trary. Our only reception of the prophecy was to 

 march defiantly up the brae. 



The first pool, a long and likely one, I swept over 

 with great caution. Few anglers, indeed, begin to 

 fish carelessly; but it is the test of a skilled hand 

 that his patience and wariness never fail, and so 

 he is never taken by surprise at the sudden bolt of 

 a royal fish. Genuine and spurious anglers may 

 readily be distinguished by the calmness and 

 temper of the former in working a difficult river, 

 where fish are scarce and hard to move; while the 

 latter soon lose heart, and before the day is half 

 over fairly give in. Fishers of this last stamp may 

 be keen enough when fish are numerous, and on 

 the rise; but it is only the gifted few who, after a 

 long and barren day, will deliver their first and 

 final casts with equal vigour and precision. 



