CH.IX.] GET ON BETTER TERMS WITH HIM. 125 
a little sooner, with a view of getting him some- 
what better in hand. Three or four such deter- 
mined rushes he made, only gradually relaxing in 
his efforts, and returning after each in a manner 
which was anything but pleasant at the time. 
Every now and then he would shew his head above 
water as he came up to have a look round, when 
Cameron greeted it with “God bless me, what n’a 
head!” Then would follow in due succession his 
dorsal fin and tail as he turned over to go below 
again. Cameron’s excitement was too great for 
any variety in his expletives. It was always, “God 
bless me, what n’a back-fin a got!” “God bless 
me, what n’a tail!” After playing him for about 
half-an-hour, he gradually became less and less 
disinclined to listen to reason, and we set about 
finding a place to land him in. We looked at two 
or three as we coasted quietly along, but there 
were always rocks or something in the way, which 
made them objectionable, and at last we paddled 
across, as fast as the fish would follow, to a small 
island, the shore of which was smooth, and rose 
gradually to the water's edge, near the head of 
the loch. Here Cameron ran the boat up, and 
I carefully jumped on shore. The ground was all 
clear, and I took the fish up to a convenient spot 
