THE OTTER. 271 



plan would answer perfectly ; for in very low water 

 fish do not travel, and in a very high one, when they 

 do, the miller would suffer no loss." 



" Weel, I waclna say but ye are perfectly richt, and 

 I am thinking that a river, like a road, should be open 

 for all passengers." 



Most of the dead salmon having been at length forked 

 out of the river, we all got afloat again, and passed 

 down those rapids above Melrose Bridge called " the 

 Quarry Stream," "Back Brae," and "Kingsiuell Lees," 

 snatching out a fish occasionally in our course ; then 

 the flame soon gleamed upon the bridge, struck up- 

 wards on the roof of the vast arch as we shot through 

 it, and revealed the dark pines below, which shelved 

 down to the margin of the river. 



We were now in a salmon cast called " the Whirls." 

 which runs deep and solemn, and we had scarcely set 

 our leisters in the rest ere we found that a fisherman 

 had been to work before us, and an excellent hand he 

 was at the sport ; he had neither light nor boat, and, 

 being tolerably hungry, I suppose, was devouring a 

 twelve-pounder, all raw as it was, in the dry channel 

 of the river. 



" See ! the otter, the otter ! he has got into the water. 

 Bring round the boat, — quick, quick. Now keep her 

 on the edge of the deep current, and we shall leister 

 him to a certainty." No such thing. He had not yet 

 made up his mind to be leistered ; and, being of a 

 solitary disposition, rather shunned our society than 

 otherwise ; so, instead of attempting to gain the main 

 stream, he went insidiously down the shallows, where 



