96 GAMEKEEPERS AND GILLIES 



mouth so far as a man might cast a javelin, riding into 

 the sea at low tide. Those who can recall old times at 

 Dunragit will not have forgotten the two Sandies Sandy 

 Weir and Sandy Clenachan, gamekeepers. I had most 

 to do with the latter, whose somewhat sinister aspect 

 belied his excellent qualities. He had a peculiarity of 

 vision, causing him to lower his face and look out and 

 forward from under a pair of swarthy brows. But his 

 eye was true enough : he was unerring in the use of the 

 gaff. On one occasion his dexterity saved me a long 

 tussle with a heavy fish, foul-hooked. It was on a bright 

 October day, with the water far on the low side; few 

 places afforded any chance of a fish, and most of these 

 had been tried before noon by various anglers. I had 

 seen nothing all morning, and was about to give it up 

 as hopeless, when it occurred to Sandy that there was a 

 streamy bit of water partly screened from the sun by the 

 Ked Brae of Park. Thither we sped, across the green 

 holm ; but scarcely had we got within view of the place 

 when I caught sight of the glint of a rod. The cast was 

 occupied, and, in the prevailing conditions of weather 

 and water, there was little hope for any except the first 

 fly over any fish that might be in the pool. The 

 only alternative was to go home, and the keener the 

 angler the more reluctant he is to take that course. 

 Some pleasure may be extracted from the mere act of 

 putting a fly artistically over a pretty bit of water ; so I 

 sat down on the sunny side of a dyke, and waited till 

 the other man had left the water. When I took my 

 turn, matters seemed less hopeful than we had antici- 

 pated. The sun wanted an hour more westering before 

 the shadow of the Red Brae should fall across the stream. 



