CHAPTER II. 



[HERE are few, I believe, who have 

 not at certain periods of their lives 

 been placed unexpectedly in circum- 

 stances, under which they feel in so complete 

 a "fix? as to know not what on earth to do! 

 Such was the case with me when I found my- 

 self on the deck of a steamer shortly bound 

 for Inverness, on a salmon-fishing excursion, 

 at nine o'clock at night. I had just travelled 

 many a wearisome mile by railway, and what 

 with hurrying here and there about London, 

 to do a great many things in the shortest 

 possible time, I felt, if not quite knocked up, 

 at any rate, not far from it. 



On reaching the vessel, the first thing I did, 

 was to ask for the steward ; and just imagine 



