OVER THE BORDER 51 



but the son had seen. " I'll get a wee bit supper 

 and hae a go for yon fish," said he, and away he 

 went. In a quarter of an hour he came back, 

 be-wadered, the complete angler. His rod was 

 sixteen feet, the usual length for the sea-trout 

 men there. An ordinary trout rod of say ten or 

 ten and a half feet, is considered too short for 

 these wide rivers, and is genially termed "just 

 a whup." Besides, the angler may have to do 

 with a salmon, which makes him esteem a long 

 rod. 



The quarter of an hour during the son's 

 absence gave me an understanding of the father's 

 pride in his soldier son. Between them, obviously, 

 was sympathy, understanding. From the bridge 

 we could see the angler casting, and presently 

 " I'm in him ! " came up to us, <c That means he 

 wants me with the net," said the father, hurrying 

 off to help. The sea-trout, a fish of about lib., 

 was soon landed. It is somewhat of an event 

 for an onlooker on a bridge to see a decent fish 



O 



landed below, from a well-threshed river. Many 

 spectators who pass without witnessing anything 

 more exciting than constant casting, must some- 

 times wonder if fish ever are caught. 



A few miles lower down the Esk, on the 

 Duke of Buccleuch's private reach, one day a 

 few years ago a passer-by over a certain bridge 

 on the Canonbie-Langholm road, at the right 

 time, would have had some excitement, for 

 according to a graphic description given me one 

 Sunday afternoon by a Scot on this bridge the 



