194 AUTUMN ANGLING 



The "bellman had no less than three flies on his 

 cast, only about a foot apart ! But even had they 

 been well separated, or fished with singly, none 

 of them, I am convinced, would have had much 

 chance of hooking a Lyon salmon. 



The hot day and hard work made a draught 

 from the spring at the nearest farmhouse very 

 delicious, and the luxury of " a drink " is enhanced 

 by sucking it through our "patent " drinking-horn 

 the hollow bone of a roe's foreleg. 



Sunning himself close to the spring, a stone- 

 blind man was making pirn-lines in the most 

 dexterous manner I ever saw. He also had a 

 little workshop, and coopered pails, " bowies," &c., 

 remarkably well. I bought a trout-line from him 

 as a curiosity, and a neat " cogue " to water the 

 pony with from the roadside burns. This blind 

 man supports himself in comfort even in a lonely 

 Highland glen. 



The last fishing -day with Mac was unfor- 

 tunate. At the tail of the first pool, hitherto a 

 barren one, I hooked a salmon. It was lost en- 

 tirely by Mac missing his first gaff, and being too 

 nervous to take advantage of a second chance, 



