THE HALY WIEL 255 



Not he; nevertheless the worst remains to be 

 told. That very night there were poachers on the 

 Monk's Ford ; they secured the laird's lost fish, dead 

 or dying in the shallow water, with the fly in its 

 mouth and half a casting-line. It was too big to 

 go into their sack, so the fellows cut it in half, and 

 made off. But they, in turn, were taken by watchers 

 at least one of them was; and the half of the great 

 fish which he was carrying weighed 35 Ibs. Said 

 I not well that such sorrow as the laird carries 

 about with him is irremediable? The mightiest 

 salmon that ever straightened a line in the water 

 of Tweed ! 



