266 A Sportsman at Large 



When we arrived at what were to be our quarters for that 

 night, we found a ramshackle affair a single room, without 

 furniture of any kind, the ceiling of which had no practical 

 existence. 



It was already too late to attempt an attack on the fish ; 

 moreover, Dr. Straton was pretty well baked by his climb ; 

 so he suggested that we should turn in at once and get what 

 sleep we could. We collected armfuls of bracken and made 

 up an impromptu couch. This would have been pleasant 

 and cosy enough had it not been for an army of black midges, 

 which descended upon us with awful rapacity; so that we 

 had to wrap towels around our faces at the imminent risk of 

 being suffocated. We were up betimes in the morning, and 

 then, to our disgust, we saw that the whole valley was wrapped 

 in a dank, white mist. The loch was no longer in view, and 

 we could hardly see our hands before us. So all we could 

 do was to sit on our now thoroughly damp couches and smoke 

 our pipes in sullen silence. This penance for our folly in 

 risking the show, lasted until mid-day. Then the sun came out 

 and gradually dispelled the mist ; but there was not a breath of 

 air ; consequently the surface of the water was as a sheet of 

 glass. 



There was as much chance of our catching a fish of any size 

 or sort as if we had cast our flies in the fountains of Trafalgar 

 Square. Personally, I would not make the attempt ; but the 

 enthusiastic Bishop, nothing daunted, went and thrashed the 

 water for all he was worth, until his muscular strength gave 

 out, and he sank exhausted on the friendly heather. But 

 when the shades of evening fell athwart the glen, and the 

 gloaming gave promise of a sporting chance, I wended my way 

 to the river and succeeded in pulling out two and a half 

 brace of very nice sea-trout. Then something of far greater 

 avoirdupois got hold of me. Immediately I sensed a salmon. 

 But I was fishing with my light trout-rod, and an ordinary 

 single gut cast, with a small sized "fiery brown." So I did 

 not feel altogether happy, and had little hope of success in 

 accounting for this customer. However, it seemed to be an 

 amiable and lethargic sort of fish, for it kept very deep and 

 attempted no rush ; but all I could do was to march sedately 



