| Show A BLACK ABLACK POOL SALMON STORY OF A NIGHTS LUCKY FISHING IN SCOTLAND MacTavIsh MacTavish the gamekeeper came home the other oter evening In an excited condition writes Charles Edwardes in Magazine He had been enjoying a night and day out on the fine stream over which his brother broter also a keeper exercised watch and ward for his master Lord B The sea trout were up and MacTavish was not the man to neglect them in the prime of their freshness and numbers He had fished all al night and the greater part of the theda day da and a bag of twentythree beau beauties beautes beauties ties tes was the result resul Of these thes he brought home only the odd three weighing two and ad a half pounds apiece on the average when relieved of their Insides A dead weight of seven or eight pounds was quite quie enough for his shoulders in the fourteen mile mUe walk home over the tho hills hUs But he brought with him something else in his own inside a Nameable number of drams of ot whisky When he lurched Into the byre where here I was wag contemplating lug ing my rod the whisky proclaimed itself Eh mon he lie exclaimed the grand time Ive Ive had Theres folks ud give their ears for such a night and und Im Im just thirsting for a wee we drip from your bottle botte He clapped capped me on the shoulder with wih the words and looked what he was It I was the first time he had displayed such democratic good fellowship As the person who rented his parlor and the te bedroom with wih two really realy spacious windows to it under the thatch I was in his wies opinion a gentleman genteman of ot some distinction whether or not I was wasa a good fisherman and MacTavish lived in wholesome fear of his prejudices He had already put me to 1 the challenge on the subject of his own I absorbing passion Are ye a real fisher he had asked me once Will Willye Wi Willye ye go through fire tre and water and all al the midges in all al glens glene put together to land a bonnie salmon If I yere no that and just that yere noth nothing nothIng ing lag ye ken And I had hesitated to admit admi that I merited so sweeping a certificate of character The midges in our one glen were quie quite enough to go on with wih to say nothing about the atrociously awkward upholstery upholstery upholstery to certain of ot the pools But those drams drains made the difference to Mac MacTavish MacTavish MacTavish Tavish Let me creep In quiet with you lie he le suggested in an earnest un undertone undertone Undertone The that when Ive Ive been awa Maybe shed not like me taking a nip with wih you Well Wel I gave MacTavish the bottle botte not without misgivings even though he had a physique of wire and steel steel And with wih the tho glass in his hand he pro proceeded proceeded proceeded to tell tel of at the tho three salmons over and above the twentythree sea trout which had blessed the last four hours of his life Ufe They g great eat fish ye ken Iten be he said sId but there was a and one of eleven Im Im thinking my lord himsel hIme have minded taking any anyone one of at the three and I give more than ten min minutes minutes mm utes to the bonniest of ot them It I was the silver siver doctor that did for them and mon man this very night it shall do more still sti ye like Uke to see me kill killa ki a salmon in the stream here He looked looke so BO very ver tipsy that I at attempted attempted tempted to sooth him I told him he would be much nuch better In bed having first yielded to the wifely attentions of at Mrs rs MacTavish And then I am sorry to say he was wa rude about Mrs MacTavish If I he made up his mind to get a salmon whether in the fore forenoon forenoon forenoon noon the evening or the night he was not the man to ask his wies leave nor n r his masters either Im Im here hore to mind the fishing for my master ye ye ken he said thickly kly but Im Im a mon monas monas monas as well wen as my master and if I say Im Im going to get a salmon Donald Mac MacTavish MacTavish MacTavish Tavish Is going to get It Ithe he is that And Its Its the silver siver doctor do It f the same as with those three other bonnIe fish Mon Ion have liked fine fineto fineto to see them It I was when day was breaking over the hills his and the heaviest heavIest iest lest cost me eight minutes from the Ule time I was into him Bide a wee and well weil wel be bo off of together The lights too strong yet see us coming But in half an hour do fine and be your fish ye ken You ou shall send it i to England to o your friends ay how well wel dispose of it and no 10 word said to a body Bound to Get a Salmon Samo He accommodated more whisky whisk in spite spie of ot protests and then in the valor of ot It I went down boldly to his wife and andin andIn andin in boisterous heroic tones told her of his rare sport in the night even as he had told me The words Silver doctor Eh woman it was a night and others drifted up through my floor foor And by and by his heavy tread shook the stairs while his voice assured Mrs MacTavish that he was going out and that no powers supernatural nor otherwise should stop him and that I Iwas Iwas Iwas was going with wih him My y parlor lamp was already lit lt It I was 10 on ona ona ona a a midsummer night nIgh and ard the lamp was waa barely necessary but there were heavy clouds over the trees and birch clad hills his beyond my parlor window and the streams bed was densely den ly shrouded with wih oaks as well wel as birches and pines and cliffs in Jn places more than a hundred feet feet perpendicular It was likely to be he dark enough and more for those inky pools which terraced down from the upper glen linked by falls fals which roared night and day wet weather or dry dr Indeed ye shall not go MacTavish urged the wife wie and Indeed but I will he And then he charged into my room with wih his wife at his heels apologizing for him Its Ite no the silver siver doctor this time mon man he cried Im Im determined ye shall have a salmon as big as any I took tok In n the night and well wel get him with wih the minnow Are ye ready Arguments were only an exasperation to him and Mrs MacTavish withdrew to her kitchen kichen and the baby in des despair despair pair par of a sort Its Is not for himself Im Im afraid she said sid to me but Its Is his In Insulting suiting conduct to you six sIr Hes not himself That I assured her was all allright al allright right If It I she thought taking taking a salmon at 11 1 or 12 at night would re reduce reduce reduce duce MacTavish to a suitably drowsy and exhausted condition for tor his bed why we would go g for tor the salmon as a an opiate And almost on that under understanding understanding understanding standing he and I set forth when with much fumbling and a certain amount of ot language MacTavish had fixed the minnow to the stiff yet not too stiff sUf rod which had already done such good execution that day da daYel Yell Yeli Yel not breathe a word about It I mon man he whispered tipsily Theres things it I do to get to my mas masters mas masters masters ear and ad Im Im weel hated by all aU the folks here as It Is Just because I do what Im Im paid for tor or In keeping their cat cattle catte cattie tie tle te bodies oft off of the hills and stopping them at the rabbits rabbis Ad then ten he had done with wih mere speech for the while He made like a abul bull bul headlong for the woods beyond the meadow patch lurching In the gloom gloor with wih his rod swaying behind him In Inand Inand Inand and out he wound woung among the trees the tho n darkness growing as we e came ame C under the shadows of at the cliffs There were pol polished polIshed pine roots and ad and slip slippery slippery pery stones to 0 be tackled on an incline toward the water which was not not com corn comfortable in m that less than tha half hal light and the dull dul gleam glem of the dark pools beneath smeared heavily with foam at their beginning and their end showed through the trellis of dwarfed birch and ash which bowered the water In full ful sunshine I had gone gone but once hitherto to this particular pool Dool under isha careful and sober guidance and he had then expatiated exp about the tho dan dangers dangers gers gem of the pith path Yell please to put pul your foot there sir he had said at in intervals Intervals intervale Its Is an awful bad spot anc end and ever since an Edinburgh clergyman that was wa in it and just bobbed up and doon with wih the suck ye kin PC ro fO fOa roas as a I thought wed never get his corp for tor his wife poor body boBy crying her eyes oot on the edge yonder ever since theres no visitor that dares to touch it f Its Is what folks call cal a whirlpool whirlpool 11 If ye go in ye go under then ye go roond and roond and get up when its Is least leat and before a body can get a snatch at ye yere doon do on again Eh Eb sir Its Is a gey queer spot is the Black Pool Pol And eighteen feet deer deep straight from the te edge just So much for daylight and Intelli Intelligent intelligent gent appreciation of our pool pool But now nowata at ata a quarter to eleven at night in a cloak of confounding gloom shadows and midges with wih nearer a pint than half haf a pint of Scotch whisky in him he lie slipped sUpped and scrambled obliquely among the th pine roots and the foot holes with wih never a word of warning for forme forme forme me and so it i seemed never a care either And he handled his rod In that thai uncanny descent like HI lik the born artist in fishing that he lie was nothing but the second nature which Is a kind of gen genius genIus ius lus kept him from enmeshing Its Is point or breaking It among the trees and bushes Looking Into the Pool At the bottom of the drop dro the rocks lay in a picturesque confusion confusion sion slon studded with wih bilberry green and birch tufts A peninsula of oi rock sharp edge uppermost protruded toward the cascade from the other side of which the bank was a red and gray wall wal with wih black firs frs and oak studding it some at a clean right angle out from the rock The pool pol itself perhaps yards In area filled fled the hollow I was still many vertical feet from Its is lip lp hanging onto roots and things and sweating with anxiety heat beat and the ir irritation irritation of the midges when MacTavish llacTa ish cried up from his perch For Gods sake mind what yere ere Stay Sta where ye are or yell yel be in tile tle water Its Is the minnow got to do the trIcK this time he added as an Incon Inconsequent sequent corollary with a curious change of tone from the fiercely admon admonitory admonItory admonitory to the intimately reflective And then I 1 sweated with rather more vigor than before as my feet went through a narrow ledge of rotten moss heather and bracken roots and I realized that eyes had a wonderful keenness of vision He had discerned my peril peri In the nick of time The T he black blackwater blackwater water was underneath me and but for forthe forthe forthe the strength of the roots In my clutch I 1 should have gone down like Jea a lead plummet and made acquaintance on the Instant with wih the maelstrom of ot the Black BlackPool BlackPool BlackPool Pool In which the historic clergyman of Edinburgh had bobbit up and doon for hours ere he lie was gaIted gaffed by the aid of two joined join d broomsticks and dragged to land for the one connubial satisfaction satisfaction tion ton that remained to his widow And even ven while I was waa taking my bearings with wih half halfa a fresh foothold secured and my handhold still sUl good MacTavish bellowed loud above the crash of the cascade Im Im onto him I looked and even in that dim light saw the point of ol his rod bent like a bow as the reel whirled The man himself had hs feet set on either side of his razor edge of a perch his face was outlined faintly I against the further background of cliff cUff and he bore boro his head erect and no long longer longor lon loner er or at a tipsy angle Its Is a fish he cried up mon its a fish The em emphasis emphasis emphasis he gave to the fish is not to be conveyed by printers italics In a min minute minute mm ute or less I had swung up and sprawled down hanging onto roots and bracken at a venture had got support for back and feet and from a point some fifteen feet only above the th enraptured enraptured MacTavish could watch him and his work with witha a very fair surplusage of energy to devote to admiration of him and the surprising briskness of his success in doing that which he had been determined to do at no matter what cost CORt For a spell the Black Pool echoed with other noises than the threshing of the water cast back by b that un unyielding yielding cliff beyond I tell tel ye cried MacTavish The little min minnows minnows mm the laddie for the work Eh Eli Ehmon Ehmon Elimon mon its is a grand fish Ive Ive had a sight of him and hes a if I Ian hes an ounce Can ye no see how he fetches at the rod I feel him doon to my m very hand mon mono Hes dour but hes a fine fish f l I 1 can canna canna na ira stir str him His remarks followed on each others heels like the bullets of ot a repeating rifle rite To my eyes the Black Pool seemed unconcerned by the thu adventure going on in Its ts sombre depths but MacTavish could see the fish whenever he had a mind to do so until unU it had got into its is dour fit tt It rushed about he said and it I and it came up to ascertain what Kind of a man had hooked him and tried all al the dodges of a fish with wih the spawn spawning spawnIng spawnIng ing Instinct and its Is own powers vigor vigorous ous In it and finally It went to the bottom of ot the thern pool and lay there likens It kens its met its Is master cried MacTavish Ill Il get it if I die for it f but its is a gey bad spot and no gaff and how the Im Im to t work him in and handle him Ill Il be damned if I know My own excite excitement excie ment meat was less than tan his but it was a quantity Ill Il come down somehow I called caned to him Stay ye are areman man cried he Im rm telling ye as sure as death if ye slip into it and theres soul yere i no living will wl land you Dinna fash leave him to me lye Ive never lost host a fish since I Iwas Iwas Iwas was a laddie and Im Im not going to lose Jose this one Mon Momi but hes dour Well Wel then I responded hed ed tell tel me where youre gaff gafIs is and Ill Il fetch it I He had hada hada a a little play with wih the salmon ere ore he re replied replied plied pled to that Ay y he said then t en when he had rapidly wiped his hl face tace with wih his coat sleeve ye might do that The gaffs In the byre under the root Its Is short of ot the handle but Ill Il do with wih it i And ye might go to Bob Macgregor and tell tel him I want him Eh Eli but its a fish Its Is eighteen pundIt if It not twenty Look at him Did ye see that Whatever it i was to see I missed it i I Iwas Iwas Iwas was already to the right about about prone on that abominable southern barrier to the Black Pool Pooh at its angle of or some Bore 75 degrees the rough foot places of which were not even conjecturable in Jn the darkness From the top of the bank which was wai as welcome as water in a wilderness I shouted an inquiry but V no answer came And then thee I took to the woods and little bogs with wih the be beguiling beguiling guiling In tn them the rock and the rotten timber of years littering it i among the bracken and made first for the te cottage of ot Bob Mac Macgregor Macgregor Macgregor gregor a a tawny bearded heathen who did not go to the kirk on the Sabbath but spent the day Instead mooning about in his braces with wih a short pipe in his mouth and on weekdays did a nothing in particular in support of at his lean wife and her ler six small smal children cottage lay rather higher up the glen than It I was wa as not a creditable homestead homested The Tho younger were a barelegged crew mixed up indoors with wih a company of sly sUte snapping ter terriers terriers terriers hens liens and |
