CHAPTER 



THE ROD TO SELECT. 



" A good deal depends on <jood ' pla_\'.' " 



"Does it! My partner with nine trumps last night tauglit me, 

 that ' good play ' depends on a ' good deal.' " 



"Oh, bother! We are discussing salmon rods, not whist." 



At this moment the Gillie, in his usual picturesque Ili^Hiland 

 garb, entered the room for orders. I'^)llo\ving up the suhject, wc 

 addressed the old Caledonian of man\- \ears' service: "Just take that 

 rod there, put it together and tell us what ycju think of it." 



We had already given our ojiinion not a particularl}- favinu-al)Ie 

 one either, for judging by the huge apjicarancc of the butt and the 

 lean, whippy top, it might have been a replica of a rod used by one 

 of our bc-wigged and powdered ancestors, whn, from the exalted 

 position of their gilded frauies in our hall, ga/e down so gravely upon 



