A TROUT NOT A FISH. 93 



enough for a bungler like me." I was trolling for a 

 compliment. 



" Ay, that will she," said he. 



Though a little mortified, I was not sorry to get 

 him to this point ; for I knew I could overwhelm him 

 with facts, and the more diffidently I conducted my- 

 self the more complete would be my triumph. So laying 

 down my pet rod on the channel, I very deliberately 

 took out my two-pounder, as a feeler. He looked par- 

 ticularly well ; for I had tied up his mouth, that he 

 might keep his shape, and moistened him, as I before 

 said, with soaked fern to preserve his colour. I fear 

 I looked a little elate on the occasion ; assuredly I 

 felt so. 



" There's a fine fish now, — a perfect beauty ! " 



" Houte-toute ! that's no fish ava." 



" No fish, man ! What the deuce is it, then ? Is it 

 a rabbit, or a wild duck, or a water-rat ? " 



" Ye are joost gin daft. Do ye no ken a troot when 

 ye see it ? " 



I could make nothing of this answer, for I thought 

 that a trout was a fish * ; but it seems I was mistaken. 

 However, I saw the envy of the man ; so I determined 

 to inflict him with a settler at once. For this purpose 

 I inveigled him to where my five- pounder was de- 

 posited ; then kneeling down, and proudly removing the 

 bracken I had placed over him, there lay the monster 

 most manifest, extended in all his glory. The light, — 



* Salmon, salmon trout, and bull trout alone, are called fish in 

 the Tweed. If a Scotchman means to try for trout, he does not 

 say " I am going & fishing" but " I am going a fronting ." 



