218 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING. 



o' fish ! If it wasna the deil I had seen, I was sure 

 he wasna far aff. I saw eneuch to tempt a better man 

 than me ; and I began to think I had better be at 

 hame reading a chapter o' the guid book, if no a leaf 

 or twae o' ' The Fourfold State ;' sae I took the stilts 

 and cam' through again by the rack, and wan hame 

 just a wee thought afore the master and the mistress, 

 honest woman ! cam' hame thrae the kirk. I bafiins 

 wist I had been there too ; — but yet I was only lookin' 

 at the warks o' the creation, and couldna say I had 

 done ony great wrang ; an' if I hadna seen Peggy 

 come oot o' the byre at Cabers ton, I aiblins hadna 

 stiltit the water after a'. But I i'and I couldna read a 

 styme ; for, dae as I micht, I couldna get the appear- 

 ance that I had seen oot o' my mind ; an' yet whan I 

 consider'd aboot the mickle rowanev, that I was sure 

 eneugh was a yeithly thing, I couldna help believing 

 that it was, after a', a fish I had seen ; but I never 

 saw sic another. 



" Weel, a' the time the master was at the reaclin', I 

 couldna keep the glisk o' the awesome mickle fish oot 

 o' my heid, and whan we raise thrae the prayers, I popit 

 the shouther o' the nowtherd callant, and said quietly, 

 ' Sandy, if I raise ye aboot twal o'clock, ye needna 

 wonder ; sleep as fast as ye can till than, an' tak' nae 

 notice to Jamie when ye rise.' I had aft ta'en this 

 lad wi' me afore to baud the licht ; for he was a stout 

 loon o' his age, and could haud a licht weel enough : 

 having a natural cast rather bye common for a kin- 

 kind o' mischief an' ploys, an', I believe, was sound 

 asleep in five minutes. 



