NOVEMBER ON THE TILL 201 



coming," he added, to comfort us. But, as my friend 

 said, one could not hear the Atlantic coming in the 

 hurricane that prevailed, much less a mere spate, nor 

 could one get up those steep banks in time ; and, 

 besides, one might at the moment be wrestling with 

 a quicksand. After the wind came rain, then more 

 wind, then more rain, then wind and rain together, 

 and finally the spate, which, by the way, was not 

 six feet, and came in the night. During all this 

 grayling-fishing was almost hopeless, but by hard work 

 I managed to get a few brace each day, and to realize 

 what might be done under fair conditions. 



The spate came down thick with the accumulated 

 debris of the whole summer, and sickened the fish 

 entirely, so that even the worm failed to do any good. 

 The flood water, however, showed the third and, I 

 hope, the last of Till's murderous methods. I was 

 standing looking at the turbulent yellow stream, when 

 I heard a noise as of a hundred salmon leaping at 

 once. At the next bend I saw a commotion and 

 waves, but nothing else. Several times in the morn- 

 ing I heard similar noises, and began to suspect what 

 it was. My suspicions were confirmed when a con- 

 siderable promontory on to which I was about to step 

 suddenly collapsed into the water below, and left me 

 on the brink. When the Till is in spate, therefore, 

 it is wise to keep well back from its high, overhanging 

 banks, lest drowning, or at any rate immersion, should 

 be one's portion. 



After the spate there was an interval spent on other 

 waters, one day being devoted to some private water 

 on the Glen, a tributary of the Till. A hurricane, of 



