318 PEAIKIE AND FOKEST. 



Jock, now my faithful attendant, was by, and with intense 

 delight waded into the stream. " Careful, boy ! be 

 cautious ! " But all was thrown away; he made a grab at 

 the fish with the gaff, as the sailor had done before, but 

 fortunately dragged it in water too shoal for swimming. 

 Jock saw he had made a bungle, and was determined to 

 retrieve, if possible, his lost reputation, so threw himself on 

 the struggling salmon, and after a wrestling match of some 

 minutes, with imminent danger to my tackle, proudly 

 walked ashore, wet from head to foot, with the prize tightly 

 cuddled up in his arms Although at first tempted to 

 anathematise the young scamp, I enjoyed a hearty laugh at 

 the nonchalance with which the monkey treated his 

 ducking. 



Moving down the water, I recommenced operations, and 

 rose two good fish ; soon I got fast to a third, which gave 

 me ten minutes' splendid sport, then he sulked, and after 

 two or three futile attempts to escape, succumbed. I was 

 surprised at obtaining so easy a victory, but this was ex- 

 plained by finding a piece cut out of his back, in front of 

 the first dorsal fin, upwards of an inch in width, and two 

 or three long. In trout fishing, I have once or twice taken 

 fish similarly wounded ; and, as there were no gill nets at 

 either place, the only satisfactory reason I can attribute is 

 that either a seal or an otter was the perpetrator. 



As the evening advanced I changed flies, and selected 

 what I have long known by the sobriquet of " the drummer" ; 

 it is composed thus : the mottled feathers of the peacock's 

 wing, with a few strands of golden pheasant for wings; 

 tody, light brown fur of the bear next the hide, mixed with 



