14 AMID THE HIGH HILLS 
told my host that if I might do so I should like 
to try the fly. He readily assented, and said that 
I should have one of his own fly rods, and before 
we started he kindly gave me several salmon flies, 
and said that his butler, C, who was an experi- 
enced hand at gaffing salmon, should come with 
me. Among the flies which my host had given 
me was a " Mar Lodge " (size 4/0), and with this 
I fished all the morning and up to about three 
o'clock in the afternoon without, however, seeing 
or touching anything. C. said that he was afraid 
the day was going to be a blank again. I said that 
I would like to try once more a particular spot 
below a rock in the upper part of a pool higher up 
the river, which I had fished in the morning and 
which I thought looked a very likely place for 
a salmon to lie. In order to fish this pool it 
was necessary to use a boat. It was a beautiful 
afternoon and the sun was still shining. We 
crossed over the river at the bottom of the pool 
and rowed up on the other side, keeping close to 
the bank so as not to disturb that part of the pool 
which I was going to fish. C. worked the boat 
with great skill, and at my first cast I managed 
to place my fly exactly where I wished it to go 
below the rock. As the fly swung round with 
