LOCH AWE 139 



Duncan still held on pluckily to the great fish. 

 Futilely he hoped that each moment would bring 

 help. He was not a patient man ; and as the 

 slow night wore on and the dawn came, each 

 succeeding hour only added to his smouldering 

 wrath. At last, between six and seven in the 

 morning, he gave up hope and broke the tackle, 

 and returned home. 



It was certainly a triumph for the salmon, which 

 was no doubt a very heavy fish. Indeed its weight 

 increased in the telling, during the ensuing days, 

 until it became of a fabulous size. It is easy to 

 imagine the withering contempt felt by the valiant 

 Duncan for the angler who had left him in the lurch 

 in such an unsportsmanlike fashion, and the stories 

 he propagated amongst the other boatmen. There 

 was little wonder that the unlucky gentleman had 

 speedily to leave the hotel, in spite of his having 

 just grounds for complaint. 



II.— A HIGHLANDER OF A BYGONE TYPE 



In former days the boatmen at the Loch Awe 

 Hotel were very clannish. If a visitor offended one 

 of their number, he fell under the displeasure of 



