ANOTHER RISE. 19 



idea of a " sinking fund" in addition to Donald's testi- 

 mony to their swallowing capacities, founded, as he said, 

 on the experience of various involuntary immersions 

 deterred us from attempting to wade them, we reached 

 the wished-for spot. And a likely spot it was ; a large 

 oval-shaped pool, evidently of great depth, and capable 

 of harbouring any amount of fish ; and, as the breeze 

 shifted about, leaving calm patches on its surface, we 

 could distinctly perceive, far down in its dark but trans- 

 parent waters, huge masses of peat-soil which the floods 

 of winter had torn from the banks, and affording splen- 

 did retreats for shy fish. Above, the channel grew 

 narrower, and the current, in consequence, more lively ; 

 the tangled arms of a huge root, the sole survivor of 

 some giant of those primeval^forests which now covered 

 these now treeless regions, stood boldly out in the 

 middle of this narrowed channel, and, strengthened by 

 a mass of debris borne down from the moors above, 

 checked the stream in its course, and produced two 

 pretty runnels at the head of the pool, which, uniting a 

 few yards below, became gradually lost in the stiller 

 depths and wider expanse of the pool itself. " Noo, 

 sir," said Donald, " noo, sir, a'm thenking, if there be a 

 saulmon in a' the river, 'twill just be here ;" and I quite 

 agreed with him. " Cast below the auld root, and let 

 her float doon, 'tis a bonny current noo." I did so ; but 

 the cast proved a blank. However, patientia est virtus 

 said a voice from " auld lang syne," when as a school- 

 boy I first began my accidence ; and so I repeated the 

 dose, and once more my fly reached the tail of the 

 runnel unassailed ; but, just as I began to raise my rod 

 for another cast, the water curled round it ; I heard a 

 sullen, lunging kind of noise ; and, whir-r-r, 1 had 

 hooked my salmon. " Ay, but 'twill be a braw fesh 

 thaat, sir ! " ejaculated Donald, and so it was ; but, un- 



