i66 ANGLING & ART IN SCOTLAND 



sufficiently shallow for the adventurers to use their 

 improvised punting-poles ; the dangerous crossing 

 was an accomplished fact. 



Encased in mackintoshes, the suspicious-looking 

 bundle, for which such a risk had been taken, was 

 safely deposited upon the farther bank, and the 

 boat made fast to a willow. From thence, by 

 devious paths, the two scape-goats made their 

 way to the place of rendezvous outside the village, 

 where they were speedily joined by their confrdres 

 from the bridge. 



On arriving at the burn — one of those deeply- 

 imbedded streams containing many interesting, 

 dark, peaty pools, the fishing of which entails much 

 scrambling over rocks and up-and-down steep 

 heathery banks — a brisk hunt for worms took place ; 

 and the Duke once more claimed his rod as his own. 



The burn proved to be a prolific one, and the 

 Duke, who was an adept at that form of fishing, 

 had quite a number of decent-sized fish by the 

 afternoon. As, however, he had no basket wherein 

 to deposit them, he was reduced to using a large 

 silk scarf that he happened to have with him, for 

 the purpose of carrying them — knotting the corners 

 together, and thus forming it into a species of pouch. 



