THE "WHUSTLER " 251 



" Never like this that I've seen; though 

 it's true enough that, exceptin' when I 

 went to the war wi' Lovat's Scouts, I've 

 never been anywhaur else but Glenartney 

 Forest and here." 



" I've seen it happen on the Dee." 



" Ay ; but the Dee's a river, no' a 

 loch." 



" On the Dee, when a salmon lies long 

 at the bottom of a pool, the gillie can 

 always get at him and stir him up some- 

 how." 



" Nae doot ; but the Dee's no' scores 

 o' fathoms deep." 



" The gillie sometimes throws big 

 stones at him." 



" In this boat there are nae stanes, 

 either big or sma'." 



Ronald, with his cold logic, had un- 

 doubtedly the best of the argument, 

 which, indeed, I had initiated less from 

 having anything to say than from a 

 vacuous feeling that silence would seem a 

 confession of helplessness. It was true 

 that I had seen a gillie stoning, and there- 



