MAY 103 



house to the west end of the water, where 

 we were to begin the first drift ; and 

 James had looked upon that fact with 

 misgiving. It had made him, and us, 

 scan the sky, there to behold, in the 

 aspect of the clouds, signs of " thunder 

 in the air." As a matter of fact, we had 

 been drifting about quarter -of -an -hour 

 before the first rise came, at least as long 

 between that and the second, and at least 

 as long between the second and the other 

 two. You may say that a trout to each 

 quarter -of -an -hour is as much as any 

 reasonable man can expect ; and I agree. 

 By six o'clock, however, when reluctantly 

 we left, we had caught only sixteen fish. 

 That was at the rate of one trout to each 

 rod every hour, and, as I myself had 

 caught only seven, the sport, from my 

 own point of view, was still more modest. 

 It was nothing like so good as that of 

 which the loch was known to be capable. 

 A few days before, two lads, guests of 

 the neighbouring laird, had come down the 

 hill with a basket of thirty-three fish and 



