142 REMINISCENCES OE THE LEWS. 



with me — ^to see if lie could break them, which 

 he generally succeeded in doing. But he never 

 came home without plenty of fish ; and he was 

 like an otter — ^he always got the best fish, and 

 seemed always to whack his caterpillars right 

 on the very spot where a taking fish was ; for 

 he must have been a taking fish not to have 

 rushed back to sea incontinently on so rough a 

 summons. 



Never talk to me about the necessity of fine 

 fishing after Shippy's exploits ! I once sent 

 him to the Blackwater with a celebrated fisher- 

 man, the surgeon of a war-steamer, stationed 

 for sometime at Stornoway, and a Hampshire 

 man, accustomed to the Test. The sailor boy 

 floated his lines in the air till they, floss-silk 

 fashion, dropped almost imperceptibly on the 

 water. It was a marvel to see, but the product 

 was not equal to the science. Shippy whacked 

 away, and filled his pannier with salmon and 

 sea-trout, and would have filled three that day, 

 I believe; only, of course, he broke his rod, 

 and so badly as to be past mending by the side 

 of the river. 



Our friend was not a good shot, much as he 

 enjoyed it; but there was no mistake in his 

 shooting — he missed them clean. There was 

 no feathering, or legging, or following up 



