40 A CRUEL DECEPTION. 



"close-time. " The most fatal of all these " military engines" 

 is the common sweep-net, which in many of our streams 

 is in use for miles and miles on both banks, and at the 

 same time ; so that the fish needs be cunning which 

 would get in safety to the retirement of the upper waters. 

 Not less deadly is the still -net, the stake-net, or the hang- 

 iiet. Further, the pole and the basket anxiously await 

 the sentimental or over-active fish that finds an amuse- 

 ment in jumping up waterfalls. By the way, a good 

 story is told of Lord Lovat, the Jacobite rebel. It is 

 said that when luncheon-time approached, he would 

 betake himself to a " fall " on his estate famous for its 

 leaping fish, and place a caldron of boiling water in such 

 a position that a salmon missing its spring would tumble 

 into it, and thus commit "salmonicide" after a novel and 

 original fashion ! Whereupon the cynical nobleman 

 would eat his lunch with peculiar gusto. 



Numerous are the ingenious and stealthy deceptions 

 which practise on the credulity and curiosity of the fish, 

 or on his hasty greediness. Slowly sailing up the fresh 

 breezy stream, he catches sight of what seems a bit of 

 rainbow, a flash of many colours ; darts at it merrily, and 

 finds himself impaled on a horrid hook at the end of an 

 oiled line, which tugs at him, and plays with him, and 

 holds on to him in spite of all his efforts to get free ! He 

 plunges into a deep pool, and rests awhile ; then, thinking 

 his enemy is away, he seeks to glide down the river. In 

 a moment he finds himself checked; pulled up suddenly at 

 the will of some mysterious and powerful creature, whose 

 formidable shadow he sees reflected on the waters. Away 

 he goes again with a jerk; but this creature is as cunning 

 as he is powerful, and all his manoeuvres are anticipated 



