POACHING 169 



hooked a salmon. He had no attendant, and had no 

 chance to beach his fish, as he was four or five feet 

 above the water. A man opposite, seeing his difficulty, 

 shouted to him, ' Will I come across, your honour ? ' 

 My brother remarked that it was a long way round, 

 when the man swam across, dressed as he was, and 

 producing a gaff from some mysterious recess in his 

 dripping garments, soon landed the fish. 'Sure, I 

 could see your honour was a true sportsman,' said 

 Pat, 'and if it had been fifty thousand fathoms deep, 

 I would have come across just the same.' He retreated 

 by the same route, gladdened with a small donation, 

 and no questions asked ; but I fear that he carried 

 that pocket gaff for no legitimate purpose, and that it 

 might well have formed an exhibit in the Ffennell 

 museum. 



