252 ANGLING LITERATURE 



Shep. Returnin' to the Loch, I thocht I wud try the 

 otter. Sae I launched him on his steady leaden keel 

 twa yards lang breadth o' beam three inches and 

 mountin' a hunder and fifty hyeucks 



Tickler. A first-rate man of war. 



Shep. I've seen me in the season atween spring and 

 summer, secure ten dizen wi' the otter at a single launch. 

 But in October twa dizzen's no to be despised the half 

 o 9 them bein' about the size o' herrings, and the half o' 

 them aboot the size o j haddocks and ane but he's a 

 grey trout 



Tickler. Salmo Ferox? 



Shep. As big's a cod. 



Tickler. Well, James. 



Shep. I then thocht I woud take a look o' some night 

 lines I had set twa three days syne, and began puin' awa 

 at the langest wi' some five score o' hyeucks, baited for 

 pike and eel, wi' troot and par-tail, frogs, chicken-heads, 

 hen-guts, some mice, some moles, and some water-rats 

 for there's nae settin' bouns to the voracity o' thae sharks 

 and serpents and it was like drawin' a net. At length 

 pike and eel began makin' their appearance first a pike 

 then an eel wi' the maist unerrin' regularity o' suc- 

 cession just as if you had puttin' them on sae for a ploy ! 

 " Is there never to be an end o' this ?" I cried to my sell; 

 and by the time that, walkin' backwards, I had reached 

 the road, that gangs roun' the bay wi' a bend enclosin' 

 atween it and the water edge a bit bonny grass meadow 



