44 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



on the ground on his victim. They splash and struggle 

 in the icy water. Name of a dog ! But it is a braw laddie ! 

 The gillie, a kind of outdoor domestic, administers the 

 coup de grace with his pistol. The King cries with a very 

 shrill voice, " Hip, hip, hurrah ! " On these red-letter 

 days, His Majesty King George dines on a haggis and a 

 whisky grog. Like a true Scotsman, he wears only a kilt. 



Well, my pike was " struck " with the same 

 vigour as the King of Britain's imaginary salmon, 

 and as a result he came, or was compelled to 

 approach himself, to the bank, and was there 

 dealt with by the gaff and hauled into the 

 grass, a long and lanky fish, green and gold. 

 A tap on the head, and the use of a stick to 

 keep open the rat-trap of teeth, enabled the 

 deeply embedded triangle to be removed with- 

 out disaster ; the feeling of having caught 

 something, the first fish of the year, put quite 

 a different aspect on the greyness of the land- 

 scape and the leaden sky. 



During the next hour two more good-sized 

 pike were seen following the bait round, and 

 two small jack took it and were landed ; also, 

 alas ! a trout of about three pounds, which 

 refused to show any vigour for some time after 

 its unpleasant experience with the triangles, 

 when gently returned to the river. But the 

 water there was sluggish ; there might still 



