296 SALMON FISHING 



on the river, it is sure to be near the Otter's Stone. 

 Perhaps that is because the pool is screened on the 

 east and the north by a semicircular knoll, and lies 

 open to the sun and the west wind. Besides, it had 

 always looked very easy to fish. In many parts of 

 the Tay, when the water is normal, or lower than 

 that, the sides are shallow, and the channels in 

 which the fish lie are too far off to be reached 

 easily ; but in the pool, on our side of it, the water 

 is deep to the very edge. Above all, the pool is out 

 of bounds. It is just beyond the march, a hill burn 

 dividing the domain of Sir John from that of his 

 next neighbour on the south. Perhaps that was 

 its main attraction. It may be that the fish in the 

 pool were like the forbidden fruit which somehow 

 always seems the sweetest. At any rate, they had 

 been very tempting to Miss Winsome. Often, when 

 she and I were guests at Sir John's, I had found 

 difficulty in persuading her not to take a cast in 

 the pool on our way to the places where we could 

 fish lawfully. " What would it matter if we did get 

 a fish here ? " she had reasoned. " Anybody seeing 

 us landing it would just think it had run us down 

 from our own bit." " If the fish were anything 

 under two pounds," I had answered, "that excuse 

 would not work." " But they seem to be all above 

 two pounds," she had insisted ; and to that argument, 

 taken by itself, I had found no answer. Certainly 

 the trout, which showed themselves frequently, did 

 seem all to be uncommonly stalwart. It was only 

 through a charming feminine deference to the moral 



