1 82 Tkin^s of tbe 1Rofc, IRifle, anfc Oun 



His line was weak, and afraid to lose it, he cast him- 

 self into the loch, yielding to the motions of the strong 

 creature until it became fatigued and manageable. 

 Then he swam ashore with his victim in subjection, 

 and brought it home ; but he was without the bandage, 

 and his heel bleeding copiously. 



This was no unusual mode of fishing with Christopher. 

 As the Shepherd remarked : ' In he used to gang, out, 

 out, out, and ever sae far out frae the point o' a 

 promontory, sinking aye further and further doon, 

 first to the waist-band o' his breeks, then up to the 

 middle button o' his waistcoat, then to the verra breist, 

 then to the oxters, then to the neck, and then to the 

 verra chin o' him, sae that you wunnered how he could 

 fling the flee ; till at last he would plump richt oot 

 o' sight, till the Highlander on Ben Cruachan thocht 

 him drooned. No he, indeed ; sae he takes to the 

 sooming, and strikes awa wi' ae arm, for the tither 

 had haud o' the rod ; and could ye believe 't, though 

 it's as true as Scripture, fishing a' the time, that no a 

 moment o' the cloudy day micht be lost ; ettles at 

 an island, a quarter o' a mile aff, wi' trees and an 

 auld ruin o' a religious house, wherein beads used to 

 be counted and wafers eaten, and mass muttered 

 hundreds o' years ago ; and getting footing on the 

 yellow sand, or the green sward, he but gies himself 

 a shake, and ere the sun looks out o' the clud, has 

 hyucket a four-pounder, whom in four minutes (for 

 it's a multiplying pirn the cretur uses) he lands, 

 gasping through the giant gills, and glittering wi' a 

 thousand spots, streaks, and stars, on the shore.'" 



