136 ANGLING & ART IN SCOTLAND 



firmly believe that Duncan had no right to fish 

 from that opposite bank ; but he had a boat with 

 him ; moreover, nobody was present, so the fact 

 did not deter him from acting upon his inspiration. 

 There was subtlety in the idea; for the river is 

 much too wide to cast across, and the fish in the 

 Brander often may be induced to rise from one 

 bank, when they cannot from the other. This was 

 a case in point, for hardly had Duncan got to work 

 than he felt a heavy weight come on to the end of 

 his line, and he almost simultaneously found him- 

 self struggling with a salmon. 



The salmon in the Awe frequently run to a large 

 size. A season seldom passes without one or two 

 of over forty pounds being landed, and Duncan's 

 fish appeared to be one of them. Consequently, 

 when the gentleman returned half-an-hour later he 

 found his gillie on the farther side of the river, still 

 battling with the salmon. There was no way of 

 crossing over to assist in the fight, for the boat lay 

 across the strait, peacefully reposing on the shore 

 of the loch. Nor could Duncan coax the salmon 

 back sufficiently far to enable him to reach the boat. 

 A predicament such as this leaves little to be done 

 beyond possessing the soul in patience. 



