LOCH AWE 137 



Mr. Hartley, in his interesting book on "Wild 

 Sports," tells us how a certain gillie, when fishing 

 on the Awe, hooked a salmon which eventually 

 leaped into an enclosed "pot" on the farther bank; 

 and how the man stripped and swam the river and 

 secured his fish. One can imagine the splashing 

 struggle which took place in that small pool before 

 the man finally overcame the salmon ! It must 

 have been a sight worth watching. The author 

 then goes on to recount how afterwards, the inhabi- 

 tants of the glen might have been scandalised by 

 the appearance of a person clothed in naught but 

 a salmon, walking over the railway bridge on his 

 way back to regain his ordinary garments. Some 

 such mode of action as that might have occurred 

 to the gentleman as he watched Duncan struggling 

 with his monster fish. But perhaps he could not 

 swim. Indeed, though a man were able to swim, 

 it would be asking too much of his enthusiasm to 

 expect him to plunge through the cold waters of a 

 loch in order to assist in securing another's salmon, 

 however big it might be. 



After a considerable time the patience of the 

 angler waiting on the north bank gave out. He 

 told his gillie that unless he could bring the fish 



