AND HOW I HAVE CAUGHT MY FISH 249 



Turning the pig into pork was Mac's next .duty, 

 but, unfortunately for his peace of mind for many 

 a long day, through the speering impertinence of 

 gillies and keepers, the pig, taking advantage of 

 the open gate, had wandered into the wood, and 

 for ever after Mac was occasionally asked if he 

 had yet stagged his pig. 



I should not have told you this or what follows 

 here had MacLeish been alive, because he extracted 

 a promise, a solemn one, from me that it should be a 

 secret between us. Death, alas ! was soon to break 

 the compact. 



While I was eating my lunch he frequently took 

 up my rod and made a cast or two, and one day, 

 while doing this, he had the misfortune to almost 

 lift his little terrier, which you see at his side, into 

 the water with a phantom minnow. The hook was 

 deeply embedded in the side of the poor little 

 creature, and it ran off up through the trees, with 

 stout Mac rushing after loudly calling in Gaelic and 

 the winch making a screech that would at other 

 times be music. 



I laughed, I could not help it. At last he 

 returned with the wee dog, and in a stern voice 

 requested me to hold him while he cut out the 

 hook. When this was done I saw that he was very 

 pale and, I feared, much offended, so I expressed 

 my regret at having been so foolish. His reply 

 was, " I kenned weel ye would be laughing, and ye 

 may juist laugh till you're a weary if so it be ye 



