50 Salmon Fishing. 



a bit of toast, and a boiled egg, and then beat- 

 ing a retreat to the deck, I left the impression, 

 I believe, behind me, that I was a poor, delicate, 

 over- worked gentleman, going to the Highlands 

 to try and recruit my shattered health. 



One of the two strangers before spoken of, 

 turned out to be a well-educated young barrister, 

 bound for Scotland with his sketch-book, in 

 search of the picturesque ; and a most agreeable 

 companion did he prove. He, and the other 

 stranger who, I imagined, was a small London 

 shop-keeper, spoke in the most graphic way of 

 the horrors they had just escaped from on 

 emerging from their hot, ill-ventilated, dirty 

 dormitory, in the forepart of the vessel. Having 

 succeeded so well with the steward in my own 

 case, I determined to try in the same quarter 

 what I could do for them. 



When the steward asseverated over and over 

 again that there was not a single berth more at 

 his disposal, it suddenly struck me that a jolly, 

 healthy-looking fellow like him could hardly put 



