i68 ANGLING & ART IN SCOTLAND 



a nightly call, when some practical joke was per- 

 petrated on them, or rather on the good-tempered 

 Johnny — Craigie was too large to tackle. It has 

 even been recorded that the joke was carried to the 

 length of the unfortunate little sportsman finding 

 himself lifted out of his warm bed and placed in 

 the cold bath prepared for the morning — a treatment 

 so dastardly that only the sweetest of tempers could 

 have suffered such an indignity unresented. 



One memorable evening the Duke and I were 

 later than ordinary in leaving the billiard-room. It 

 was after twelve o'clock. The other two had retired 

 to rest unusually early ; a fact resented by my com- 

 panion as a personal insult. They had, moreover, 

 had the audacity to remark that they felt tired ; — 

 tired ! — at ten o'clock, after an ordinary day's fishing 

 on the loch I This would never do ; serious steps 

 must be taken to show these two degenerate creatures 

 what we thought of their despicable conduct. 



A consultation followed, when it was resolved 

 that a determined midnight raid should be made 

 on their room. At the door of this room, therefore, 

 situated in the main corridor, in close proximity to 

 an exit from a small side-passage, we stationed 

 ourselves, sponges in hand. The situation seemed 



