214 TOM PURDIE'S SARCASM. 



having absented himself for a considerable time, he 

 returned to the party with a fish, which, being too large 

 for his basket, he held with his handkerchief, a corner of 

 which he had passed through the gills. This fish he 

 lifted up before Tom Purdie, with an air of success 

 that I never saw him assume before, saying, " Now, Mr. 

 Purdie, I have conquered a sea trout at last, and here 

 he is ! " 



Tom was all aghast, for before the fish was laid on 

 the ground he thought he saw what he called " a very 

 nice new-swoomed gilse ; " but, upon a closer inspection, 

 his practised eye soon descried the difference ; for it was 

 a real river trout, of above four pounds weight, and 

 unusually bright in colour. Tom turned him over and 

 viewed the other side, then turned him over again, and 

 viewed both sides with great seeming interest ; he then 

 examined his teeth and gills, and uttered a short groan ; 

 pulling out his snuff-box from his pocket, and having 

 solaced himself with a pinch, he took a still more 

 minute survey, looking alternately at the fish and 

 Mr. Tintern : at length, casting a reproachful glance at 

 the animal, he said pithily, " Od, and to be taen by the 

 like o' him!" 



The sky was now clear again, and the wind, which 

 had only been brought on by a few rising clouds, had 

 subsided. Mr. Tintern, however, being too good- 

 humoured to take Purdie's sarcasm to heart, was so 

 charmed with his success that he would . not join the 

 leisterers, but preferred fishing with the fly ; at the same 

 time he delicately hinted to me, that he thought there 

 was something a little sanguinary in the use of such a 



