ARE TROUT CUNNING? 117 



and landed it ; and it matched the five 

 fish well, fat and firm and shapely, white 

 of belly, and with bright yellow sides 

 spangled by clear-red and dark-blue spots, 

 a trout in prime condition. 



How did he do it ? Was this nona- 

 genarian a wizard ? or, by birth an Irish- 

 man, bearing the honoured name of 

 Gilbert, had he the secret of those strange 

 essences with which his volatile country- 

 men in remote parts, where water-horses 

 were stiU not unknown, while gnomes 

 and sprites that haunt the nights were 

 common, smeared their lures, to the com- 

 plete undoing of the fish ? 



Apparently, it turned out, there had 

 been no black art in the old gentleman's 

 triumph. In response to my awe-struck 

 questionings, he showed me his flies. In 

 obedience to the ironmonger, I myself 

 had been using midges. The old gentle- 

 man's flies were three or four sizes larger : 

 indeed, they seemed just the flies that 

 one would cast upon Lochleven in a 

 breeze ! 



