A SCHERZO 179 



meaning being, that they were "all about love." 

 He would be, too, most tender and solicitous for 

 your welfare, refusing to be helped with the oars 

 for fear the rowing should overtire your wrist 

 and so be deleterious to your casting powers. As 

 for little Johnny, he took him specially under his 

 wing, looking after him as a father would care for 

 his son. 



These two gillies had one fault ; they invariably 

 exaggerated the number and size of the fish caught, 

 to a surprising extent ; — but indeed untruthfulness 

 in this respect was the general rule at Loch Rannoch. 

 The remarkable part of it was, that, although they 

 lied to one another in the most childlike and open 

 manner, they each believed the other to be speaking 

 the truth. This peculiarity was markedly demon- 

 strated one day — our boat, at the time, passing within 

 hailing distance of the other party — when some 

 conversation passed in Gaelic between the boatmen, 

 which left Jimmie in a most palpable state of deep 

 depression. On inquiring the reason of this de- 

 jection, it appeared that Wullie had asked him how 

 many fish we had caught, to which he had answered 

 twenty-four ; and in reply to his own wish for en- 

 lightenment as to the number landed by the other 



