174 AUTUMNS IN AKGYLESHIKE 



disturbing element, has the salmon out on the 

 bank the first time he gets a fair chance, and 

 deposits him in the bag beside his predecessor, 

 looking like a bar of silver so bright that he 

 cannot have left the sea many hours. 



Another fish, about the same size, rises, and 

 falls to rise no more, in the very next stream, 

 just where the bank has been made up with some 

 piles, and then the luck changes again. The 

 height of the water is still improving, the breeze 

 keeps up well, and the sky is all a fisherman 

 could desire ; but the fish have left off rising. 

 I change my flies half-a-dozen times, trying 

 varieties of size and colour ; but neither the Boy's 

 pool nor the stream below, nor any part of the 

 long pool by Dunadd, produces a single rise ; 

 and when I see the dog-cart turning the corner 

 towards the bridge, I feel no inclination to keep 

 the rod on the lower water waiting, but take it 

 down at once; and soon we are "all on board," 

 and I am lighting a meditative pipe, my little boy 

 volubly recounting to the groom the adventures 

 of the day, while Punch, curled up upon the bag 

 under the seat, dreams of the rabbits he could 

 not catch, and of the well-earned meal which 

 awaits him on his return. 



So ends an enjoyable day ; and if the more 

 fortunate captors of monsters in Canada, Norway, 

 the Tay, the Tweed, laugh at my poor little spoils, 

 I can at least remind them that I am able to use 



