CUDDIES AND LITHE. 55 



may be I do not know. His length was a little under 

 a yard ; and Donald said he would weigh eight pounds. 

 Walter now returned to his rod, in the hopes of 

 catching a fish of the same sort and size as mine ; and, 

 as we had during the struggle imperceptibly drifted 

 away with the tide, we at once pulled back to the spot 

 where I had hooked him. Donald was sure that where 

 there had been one there would be more, and so it 

 proved ; for we had scarcely passed the place, when at 

 the same instant both the rods were tried to the utmost 

 by a repetition of the same plunging, diving, and 

 obstinate pulling. We kept up the fight for some time, 

 as before ; and most exciting sport it was. Walter, 

 however, had secured his fish, and laid him gasping in 

 the bottom of the boat, while mine was still resisting as 

 obstinately and showing as much play as ever. Indeed, 

 we began to think that I should never gain the mastery, 

 while each moment threatened the rupture of my 

 tackle. But at length, by dint of patient perseverance 

 and cautious dealing, which called forth the expression 

 of praise from Donald, " 'Deed, sir, but I didna' ken 

 ye could angle the like o' that," I drew in my anta- 

 gonist, and found to my astonishment that, instead of 

 one lithe, there were two, each fully as large as my 

 first. The obstinacy of the struggle now no longer sur- 

 prised us ; the only wonder was that the tackle had held 

 good. Walter's fish was scarcely so large as my first. 

 We continued this for about an hour longer, and then, 

 as the tide turned, we gave it up. We had each caught 

 another lithe ; and, on counting our fish, we found that 

 we had twenty-six cuddies and five lithe, weighing, by 

 Donald's calculation, altogether not far short of lOOlb. 

 On the whole, then, we were very much pleased with 

 the day's sport, which had more than satisfied our 

 greatest expectations. The lithe, especially, were a 



