"LITTLE RIVERS:^ 121 



maiden. ' Surely the safest form in which the course 

 may be taken is by falling in love with a girl in a book. " 

 And so these lovers three sailed among the Western 

 Islands. It was Sheila's dark blue dress and sailor 

 hat they looked for in the streets of Stornoway. It 

 was Sheila's soft sing-song Highland speech they 

 heard on the balcony of the little inn. It was Sheila's 

 low sweet brow, and long black eyelashes, and tender 

 blue eyes that they saw as they loitered over the 

 moorland. Were not these the peat cutters that Sheila 

 loved to help ? Was not this the spot where Sheila 

 picked the bunch of wild flowers and gave it to her 

 lover ? In fact, Sheila is the most prominent person in 

 this essay, and it is a pretty testimony to the charm of 

 "A Princess of Thule " that it should have taken such 

 a hold upon the affections of these three staid Ameri- 

 can clergymen. 



Here is a description of our author's first salmon : 

 " The white water came singing down out of the 

 moorland into a rocky valley, and there was a merry 

 curl of air on the pools, and the silver fish were leap- 

 ing from the stream. The gillie handled the big rod 

 as if it had been a fairy's wand, but to me it was like 

 a giant's spear. It was a different affair from fishing 

 with five ounces of split bamboo on a Long Island 

 trout pond. The monstrous fly, like an awkward 

 bird, went fluttering everywhere but in the right 

 direction. It was the mercy of Providence that pre- 

 served the gillie's life ; but he was very patient and 

 forbearing, leading me on from one pool to another, 

 as I spoiled the water, and snatched the hook out of 

 the very mouth of rising fish, until at last we found a 



