298 SALMON FISHING 



I did as I was bidden, and from the eyrie in the 

 fir saw my companion throw her line upon the 

 pool and then fix her rod by the spear between two 

 stones. She had chosen a peculiar place in which to 

 soak a fly. Her rod hung over the point of a small 

 peninsula slanting down the stream and carrying the 

 main current towards the middle ; her cast was mov- 

 ing about in slack, deep, rippling water a good many 

 yards from the bank. I could see Yellow Sally swim- 

 ming gently, but vivaciously, to and fro, a little under 

 the surface. 



Rarely had I relished a luncheon so much as that 

 which I was soon enjoying. Miss Winsome is daring 

 in pursuit of trout, and, as has been indicated, she 

 has no pedantic respect for the Game Laws ; but she 

 is an exceedingly merry companion, and was surely 

 a safe one up a tree. What more could a fellow 

 want? Sir John's butler had done his duty well. 

 In our basket we found a chicken, a dainty pie, 

 other things to eat, and two bottles of wine. Here 

 was I, after a morning of brisk sport, and with the 

 prospect of more in the afternoon, lunching in an 

 immemorial tree, by the bank of the grandest river 

 in the kingdom, with a pretty girl ! What more, 

 I ask again, could a fellow want ? It was like living 

 in the Forest of Arden. 



This feeling seemed to call for expression in 

 phrases which naturally took in the blueness of 

 the sky, the sigh of the south wind, and the 

 songs of lark and missel- thru sh ; but discourse on 

 this theme was cut short. Miss Winsome is a 



