THE BLOODY DOCTOR 99 



when you step on it, like the seat of a very luxuri- 

 ous arm-chair. Moreover, the bottom is pierced 

 with many springs, wherein if you set foot you 

 shall have thrown your last cast. 



By watching the loch when it is frozen, a man 

 might come to learn something of the springs ; but, 

 even so, it is hard to keep clear of them in summer. 

 Now the wind almost always blows from the west, 

 dead against the little piece of gravelly shore at 

 the eastern side, so that casting against it is hard 

 work and unprofitable. On this day, by a rare 

 chance, the wind blew from the east, though the 

 sky at first was a brilliant blue, and the sun hot 

 and fierce. I walked round to the east side, waded 

 in, and caught two or three small fellows. It was 

 slow work, when suddenly there began the greatest 

 rise of trout I ever saw in my life. From the edge 

 of the loch as far as one could clearly see across 

 it there was that endless plashing murmur, of all 

 sounds in this world the sweetest to the ear. Within 

 the view of the eye, on each cast, there were a 

 dozen trout rising all about, never leaping, but 

 seriousl)' and solemnly feeding. Now is my chance 



H 2 



