APRIL 75 



under the banks until a dimple on the surface betrays 

 a feeding trout. Not a hasty movement not a corner 

 of white handkerchief not a sun-glint on his rod 

 must betray his presence to the object of his desire. 



We separated, my fellow traveller and I; the 

 Albanian gentleman constituting himself my guide, 

 and a Turkish soldier closely dogging my steps, having 

 orders, it seemed, not to let me out of sight for a 

 moment. 



Now it has been my fortune in fishing to enjoy com- 

 munion with gillies of many nationalities the taciturn 

 Lowland Scot, the polite Highlander, the adulative and 

 witty Irishman, and the sinewy and gentle Norseman ; 

 but never in my wandering had I been offered the ser- 

 vices of one so gorgeously arrayed as this Albanian 

 gillie. His noble carriage, handsome features, and 

 generally well-groomed appearance, set off a costume 

 which it would be hard to beat in grace. On his thick 

 crop of jetty curls was poised a dainty little white 

 cap, stiff with delicate needlework ; wide, fan-shaped 

 sleeves of spotless linen floated from under an armless 

 jacket, the front of which was of rich blue cloth 

 embroidered with gold braid, the back being of quilted 

 silk vieux rose. Loose black breeches clothed him to the 

 knees ; white woollen gaiters covered his legs, down to a 

 pair of tasselled, upturned toes. Round his slim waist 

 was a bandolier with forty rounds of ball-cartridge; 

 from his shoulder hung a magazine rifle in a brass- 

 studded sling of scarlet leather. 



His method of showing anxiety for my sport (or, as 

 the result proved, for baksish) was to precede me to all 



