264 TROUT FISHING 



convenience. Thus, the boat had to be 

 "brought round " not a few times, and to 

 not a few places, before we were safely 

 seated. 



What was to be done next? I 

 thought it would be well to put off 

 gently and await the strategy of the 

 whustler. That came with decision and 

 energy. Apparently rendered suspicious 

 by noticing that the slight strain on him 

 came from a new quarter, he bolted like 

 a torpedo. Helped a little by the reel 

 giving up the line I had recovered, 

 Ronald made a desperate but successful 

 effort. The wild rush was soon over. 

 Trouble, however, was to come. Obey- 

 ing some strange instinct, the great fish 

 was making for the Balvaig River, into 

 which Loch Voil pours its excess. In- 

 wardly I rebuked myself for having left 

 the comfortable graveyard. There we 

 might have spent a chill and cheerless 

 night, with little hope that the dawn 

 would herald in a brighter day ; but if 

 we were hauled or lured into the river 



