CHAPTER ONE HIGHLAND LAKES 



into a good-humoured calm; and having offered a pinch 

 of snuff to the gamekeeper, whom he generally fixed upon 

 in particular to shout at, in consequence of a kind of rivalry 

 between them, and also in consequence of his measuring 

 some head and shoulders higher than himself, he made a 

 brief apology for what he had said, winding it up by say- 

 ing, "And after all, that's no so bad, your Honour," as 

 he pointed to some giant trout; he then would light a 

 pipe, and having taken a few whiffs, deliberately shove ita- 

 light into his waistcoat pocket, and extracting a netting- 

 needle and string, set to work, mending any hole that had 

 been made in the net. This done, and a dram of whisky 

 having been passed round, the net was arranged on 

 the stern of the boat, and they rowed round the wooded 

 promontory to the other creek, keeping time to their 

 oars with some wild Gaelic song, with a chorus in which 

 they all joined, and the sound of which, as it came over 

 the water of the lake, and died gradually away as they 

 rounded the headland, had a most peculiarly romantic 

 effect. 



Sometimes we did not commence our fishing till sunset, 

 choosing nights when the full moon gave us sufficient light 

 for the purpose. Our object in selecting this time was to 

 catch the larger pike, who during the day remained in the 

 deep water, coming in at night to the shore, and to the 

 mouths of the burns which run into the lake, where they 

 found small trout and other food brought down by the 

 streams. During the night time, also, towards the begin- 

 ning of autumn, we used to catch quantities of char, which 

 fish then, and then only, approached near enough to the 

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