CH. IX.] ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 127 



the defective state of my gut, the fault in which 

 was just at that critical place, made it a mat- 

 ter of wonder that I ever succeeded in land- 

 ing him. Possibly however the effect of this 

 cross-pull may have been advantageous in pre- 

 venting him from leaping, had he done which, I 

 think we must, in all probability, have parted 

 company. 



I should mention that, though there are one 

 or two boats, such as they are, on Loch Garry and 

 Loch Polery, and those lochs, with the part of the 

 river between Loch Kingie and Loch Garry, may 

 be fished by any one staying at Tomdoun ; yet a 

 boat cannot be got upon Loch Kingie (in which 

 the Salmo ferox is said to be more numerous 

 than in either of the other lochs) without the ex- 

 press leave of Mr Ellice of Glen Coich, who how- 

 ever, I believe, obligingly permits rod-fishing from 

 the shore. When we were there, Mr Ellice was 

 absent from home, and his keeper, who had been 

 at some trouble to get the deer down near the 

 loch, feared that bringing a boat across might 

 disturb them, so we left Loch Kingie without 

 giving it a fair trial, for though it is compara- 

 tively small, and very deep towards the centre, 

 yet as it is rather shallow and weedy on one 



