MEMORIES OF MAHSEER 



By Lieut.-Col. P. R. BAIRNSFATHER 

 (Late 14th Bengal Lancers) 



" Canny, now ! Get him by the gills— that's the lad ! " 



Then a tremendous heave, a mighty tail outflung, a sicken- 

 ing glimpse of hooks hanging free, and the fish was gone. 



" Idiot ! what for did ye no take a better grip ? I tell 

 you, you'll never see the like o' yon fish again. Man, I 

 would rather have lost my pension ! " 



In moments of excitement the Colonel always lapsed into 

 broad Doric, and the object of his wrath, his last-joined 

 subaltern, stood there dripping mud and water, and with never 

 a word to say. He, too, was suffering as keenly as the other 

 from the despair that comes with such disappointments, and 

 he realised that there was no excuse for having so bungled his 

 share of the disaster. The mahseer that had gone before, 

 needless to say a monster, had been played for hours till it 

 was thought that there was not a kick left in it, and as its captor 

 proudly steered it towards the bank, the subaltern had volun- 

 teered to land it, but the last kick had evidently been held in 

 reserve. The boy did what he could to retrieve the position, 

 and flung himself bodily on the top of the fish, and actually 

 held it for a moment in his arms, striving to get firm hold of 

 the slippery scales. But not all the sterling qualities that 



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