CH. IX.] GET ON BETTER TERMS WITH HIM. 125 



a little sooner, with a view of getting him some- 

 what better in hand. Three or four such deter- 

 mined rushes he made, only gradually relaxing in 

 his efforts, and returning after each in a manner 

 which was anything but pleasant at the time. 

 Every now and then he would shew his head above 

 water as he came up to have a look round, when 

 Cameron greeted it with " God bless me, what n'a 

 head!" Then would follow in due succession his 

 dorsal fin and tail as he turned over to go below 

 again. Cameron's excitement was too great for 

 any variety in his expletives. It was always, " God 

 bless me, what n'a back-fin a got!" "God bless 

 me, what n'a tail ! " After playing him for about 

 half-an-hour, he gradually became less and less 

 disinclined to listen to reason) and we set about 

 finding a place to land him in. We looked at two 

 or three as we coasted quietly along, but there 

 were always rocks or something in the way, which 

 made them objectionable, and at last we paddled 

 across, as fast as the fish would follow, to a small 

 island, the shore of which was smooth, and rose 

 gradually to the water's edge, near the head of 

 the loch. Here Cameron ran the boat up, and 

 I carefully jumped on shore. The ground was all 

 clear, and I took the fish up to a convenient spot 



