268 A Sportsman at Large 



fishing nearer the mouth of the Kyle, where it flows out into 

 the open sea. 



Therefore, I chartered a fishing boat and a native who 

 was supposed to be learned in the ways of sea-fish, and how 

 to catch them. I had intended taking only Bizzy with me ; 

 but my two brats implored me to allow them to come along, 

 simply for the pleasure of being aboard the lugger and not 

 because they had any hunch for fishing per se. Arrived at our 

 proper points, the anchor was lowered, the angling gear 

 prepared, and we made a start. Bizzy soon hauled up a 

 very fine haddock, and I followed suit ; so we began to think 

 we were in for a good time ; but suddenly we were aghast 

 at seeing a huge maritime monster gliding along on the surface 

 within a hundred yards of the boat. I could not make out 

 what it was. It might have been a narwhal or a basking shark. 

 We were gazing at it with interest, when I found that the 

 boatman was hurriedly pulling up the anchor. 



" What are you up to ? " I inquired sharply. 



" Man," he cried excitedly, " d'ye ken yon beastie ; forrby, 

 if we're no movin* the noo, ah'm thenken' that he'll be forr 

 coomin' richt at us an* upsetting the whole of us i' the sea! " 



Whereupon he seized the sculls and began pulling away 

 for all he was worth. But the great creature went its way, 

 apparently oblivious of our presence ; so that the wind it had 

 put up Neal (the said boatman) soon subsided. But wind 

 of another kind arose and the surface of the water became 

 somewhat violently agitated. Our boat was now rocking 

 unpleasantly. First Denis and then Raymond were seized 

 with sea-sickness, and imagined themselves to be nigh unto 

 the doors of death. 



Presently the waves were coming up the Kyles boisterously ; 

 and though the shore was within easy reach, it was bounded 

 by jagged rocks, which forbade any attempt at landing, so 

 that it became imperative that we rowed up the Kyle for 

 more than a mile, against the tide and in the face of a storm 

 which grew more violent every moment. 



My thoughts flew back to the previous adventure which 

 we had struck when rock-pigeon shooting in the Orkneys, 

 as already chronicled. An added terror now encompassed 



