A SCHERZO 167 



Towards evening his appearance beggared descrip- 

 tion, as, with soiled and torn clothes, and hands 

 begrimed with the task of burrowing in the earth 

 or turning over stones in search of the wherewithal 

 to bait his hook, he emerged, hot, fagged, though 

 triumphant, from the bed of the stream. To add 

 to the unconventionality of his appearance, he wore 

 a large sun-hat with a handkerchief streaming from 

 beneath it ; and suspended from one of the buttons 

 of his coat was the sanguinary and gruesome bundle 

 of fish. 



When the miscreants ultimately sneaked back 

 to the hotel in the gloaming, this bundle was care- 

 fully concealed under his bed (where, I trust, the 

 housemaid did not find it), and on the following 

 morning the contents were added to the basket 

 with which he returned from the river. He had 

 unfortunately to leave Loch Rannoch soon after 

 lunch that next day, so had only a morning's 

 fishing, and it was generally considered in the 

 hotel that he had made extraordinarily good use of 

 his time. 



Craigie and Johnny shared the same bedroom. 

 It was a playful habit of the Duke to pay them 



