Colonel ICbomas TTbornton 65 



taken by a friend of his which was two feet in length ! 

 But he draws the line at that measurement and mercifully 

 spares us the weight, knowing that human credulity has 

 its limits. 



Scotland was then the fisherman's paradise the lochs 

 and rivers teemed with big fish, strangers for the most 

 part to the angler's lure, for the gentle craft had few 

 followers in the far north, and consequently the expert 

 angler had such a time as he will never know again in 

 any home waters. The Colonel tells us with great gusto 

 how on June 3<Dth he slipped away from his sleeping 

 friends at 5 a.m., and before 8 a.m. killed five salmon in 

 the Leven at Balloch, the largest weighing 41 Ibs., the 

 others ranging from 22 Ibs. to 9 Ibs. " Perfectly satisfied 

 with my success," he writes, " I returned home." Per- 

 fectly satisfied, indeed ! What would not any angler of 

 to-day give for such a three hours' sport ! He certainly 

 would seek in vain for it in the Leven at Balloch, though 

 Colonel Thornton's account of the size and number of 

 the fish there is borne out by that given by his prede- 

 cessor Captain Richard Franck. 



But it was among the pike that our sporting Colonel 

 won his greatest triumphs. The first of these was the 

 great pike of Loch Petullich, a monster which had long 

 defied all efforts to capture him. He had been shot at 

 half a dozen times, and had been hooked but had carried 

 off tackle and hooks as easily as Samson carried off the 

 gates of Gaza. Now, at last, however, his hour was 

 come. The Colonel was assured that the instant he 

 threw in any living animal, even a dog, this prodigious 

 fish would take it. " I adjusted a strong trimmer hook," 



5 



