THUIHam Scrope 435 



' There's a fine fish, now, a perfect beauty ! ' 

 ' Hout, tout ! that's no fish avaY 



{ No fish, man ! What the deuce is it, then ? Is it a 

 rabbit, or a wild duck, or a water-rat ? ' 



1 You are joost gin daft. Do ye no ken a troot when 

 ye see it ? ' 



I could make nothing of this answer, for I thought 

 that a trout was a fish ; but it seems I was mistaken. 

 However, I saw the envy of the man ; so I determined 

 to inflict him with a settler at once. For this purpose I 

 inveigled him to where my five-pounder was deposited ; 

 then kneeling down and proudly removing the bracken 

 I had placed over him, there lay the monster most 

 manifest, extended in all his glory. ... I gave a 

 smart turn of my body, and placing an arm akimbo, 

 said, in an exulting tone, and with a scrutinising look, 

 ' There, what do you think of that ? ' I did not see the 

 astonishment in Sawny's face that I had anticipated, 

 neither did he seem to regard me with the least degree 

 of veneration ; but giving my pet a shove with his nasty 

 iron-shod shoes, he simply said, 



' Hout ! that's a wee bit gilse.' 



This was laconic. I could hold no longer for I hate a 

 detractor ; so I roundly told him that I did not think 

 he had ever caught so large a fish in all his life. 



'Did you, now ? own.' 



' I suppose I have.' 



' Suppose ! But don't you know ? ' 



1 1 suppose I have.' 



' Speak decidedly, yes or no. That is no answer.' 



1 Well, then, I suppose I have.' 



