_Hei mihi præteritum tempus!_ That is, the past time when new Fishery
Laws did not forbid, and we young sportsmen might combat the salmon in
his own element, armed, like the Retiarius, with a trident, but, unlike
him, without a net. Ill-omened word! is it not to thee that the
interdict is owing?--blockading the mouth of every river with thy
cowardly meshes, only withdrawn for the barest minimum of hours out of
the twenty-four to give free passage to the home-sick fish and lusty
grilse to re-seek the dear old pools of his birth. For the grace now
extended, and the check put upon the rapacious suppliers of
Billingsgate and Leadenhall, we shall ever be grateful to the
Commissioners, even though the same powers that have removed the
stake-nets have prohibited the use of the spear, whose operation, as
numbered amongst the things past, we purpose to record.
And first for the science of the sport. Salmon-spearing, as we used to
perform it, was of two kinds. First, that by day; second, that by
night. For the first, we choose that day when the more noble art of the
rod and fly would be exercised in vain--a clear sunny day, with as
little ripple as possible, and the water low, the field of operation
being generally the upper pools, or, in preference, the larger "burn"
or mountain stream whence the river took its source.
The implements, a spear, or rather iron trident of three prongs, barbed
like a fish-hook, the prongs being about two inches apart, with a shaft
some ten feet in length; two or three long poles, whose uses will be
seen presently, and either a "gaff" or a landing-net. The essentials, a
hawk-like keenness of eye sharpened by long practice, a goat-like
agility amongst rocks and stones, and a philosophical indifference to
all such minor discomforts as a complete wetting and a frequent fall or
bruise. The night-work differed in the change of locality, the
favourite spot being the long shallow "reach" at the river's mouth, and
in the substitution of fir-torches for the poles of the day's
programme. Thus much for the nature of the sport; for a description of
it let the reader lend a kindly ear while we suppose the scene by the
banks of the river Arkail, in the Northern Highlands of Scotland (a
name which, by the way, he will in vain try to establish in the best of
educational atlases or tourists' guides).
"What a baking day! No use taking out the dogs; there's not a breath of
scent along the whole hill-side; and one might as well try to fish in a
tub as throw a line over the looking-glass-like pools to-day. What's
to be the order of the day, Frank? I think I shall take a walk up to
the top of Ben Voil and 'spy' if there are any deer lying near the
ground."
"I don't think you can do better. We have already planned a foray with
the spear in the Upper Pools; but you don't care about that sort of
work; so good luck to you, and adieu for the present. I suppose you'll
take Stuart with you?"
Even as he spoke a cheery voice outside had summoned Frank, warning him
that his set were waiting; so, with a parting remembrance from Charles
Marston, the eldest of our party, and the tacitly-acknowledged head, to
"mind and 'crimp' your fish directly you get him out of the water,"
Frank Gordon hastened to the gravelled square in front of the lodge,
and found his brother amongst a group of keepers and "gillies," who, by
the arms they bore, gave sufficient evidence of their intended
occupation. With the exception of a "forester," Hugh Ross, who, by
virtue of his position and his long Gaelic descent, persevered in the
traditions of his ancestors, and robed his limbs in a kilt of home-spun
tartan, the rest of the sportsmen were clad in knickerbockers, master
and man alike. And now they were off, and making down the "brae" with
the long dropping action which marks the practical mountaineer, being
greeted as they passed the kennels by the most dismal howling from the
dogs, who evidently did not comprehend that spears were not guns, and
that there were occasions, such as salmon-spearing, on which their
services might be dispensed with, and who further interpreted the
volley of mingled Gaelic and Sassenach ejaculations hurled at them as a
command to increase their note from _forte_ to _fortissimo_, a
proceeding accordingly executed with the most painful exactness which
the canine intellect could suggest.
A short half-hour's walk, and the hollow moaning of a waterfall told of
the journey's end. Brushing through a small birch-wood that clothed the
high banks of the stream, our party stood on the edge of a sheer rock
about thirty feet high, and, looking down on the scene of their
intended operations, assigned to each his post and duty. A long,
narrow, black pool, shallowing towards the tail into a rushing stream,
dashing madly against the boulders scattered at random in its course;
the rocks rising steep and bare on either side, but fringed on their
summits with the drooping birch-trees and overhanging heather nestling
round the delicate little ferns and rock-plants that peeped timidly out
here and there; and away at the head of the pool, the finishing charm
of the lovely spot, the tumbling waterfall, which ever filled the air
with its clamorous voice, and beat the red waters below into a mad
whirl of eddies and bubbles and leaping foam. Truly as sweet a picture
as Nature ever limned, which, had it been a few degrees farther south,
might have been an unfailing trap for excursionists to expend their
savings on a "pack" in a covered carriage, and a cheap ride
_uninsured_, or might have had its heath-covered banks dotted with
picnic parties, and its waters sweetened with the chicken-bones so
deftly thrown by the playful Miss Holiday; but being, alas, poor
Monar--only one of many such scenes in the bosom of the Highland hills,
_all_ inaccessible by steam or jaunting-car--it must e'en remain
unknown, save to the privileged few, who now looked at it with the less
noble view of how they might draw a fish from its black depths.
"Ah, wunna ye look at him? Hech, doon he comes; ye maun e'en try again,
my bonny mon."
This address was called forth from honest Sandy Macgregor, one of the
gillies of the party, by the sight of a salmon leaping at the falls,
but who, having failed to clear them, hit with a heavy whack against
the rock, and, with a vain wriggle and struggle, fell back into the
pool beneath.
"You may see more of him yet, Sandy," said Alick Gordon, the elder of
the brothers, "if meanwhile you will try and get me a little gravel."
A few minutes, and Sandy returned, bringing his cap full of sand and
small stones, which Alick, taking, threw in handfuls down the pool,
close by the edge of the rock. The result of this mysterious
proceeding, being closely watched by the group, was announced by a
general murmur of satisfaction as, almost straight beneath them, a
string of bubbles rose to the surface of the stream and floated idly
away. (For the benefit of those who have never seen this piece of
fishing-craft, we may explain that, as a fish is lying at the bottom
with his head up-stream, allowing the water to run into his mouth and
out through his gills--his mode of breathing--some of the gravel as it
sinks down enters his mouth, and as the fish ejects it, he sends up a
few bubbles, which mark the spot he is lying in.)
"Is that your friend, Sandy?" cried Alick, on seeing the success of his
device. "You ought to know him if you saw him again, so come along down
here with me."
Away went the speaker to the farther end of the pool, where, by
scrambling and swinging, he managed to let himself down the rock, and
plunged knee deep into the rapids. Closely followed by Sandy, he made
his way towards the deep water, keeping close beneath the high bank,
where he knew that, at about the depth of his waist, a small ledge ran
along the rock which would afford him a footing. Quietly and carefully
he arrived at the spot where the bubbles had been seen to rise; and
telling Sandy to hold him round the waist, as he stood beside him on
their precarious footing, he took off his cap, and holding it over the
water so as to throw a shade in which the smallest objects at the
bottom of the stream were visible to his practised eye, he bent down,
and began a long and wary search. One unaccustomed to the work might
have looked till nightfall without seeing more than the changing lights
and shadows playing over the deep-sunk stones; but Alick's experience
soon showed him a long black object, like a shade, lying close by the
rock, and in about nine feet of water. Having satisfied himself as to
the exact position of his treasure-trove, he shouted a warning to the
group above, and told Sandy to take a look.
"Ah, the big blackguard!" whispered the gillie, as he lifted his
dripping face after his subaqueous search. "Have a care, Mister Alick,
and give him the point well over the shouther."
"Hold up tight then, Sandy, and give a shade with your cap as I tell
you. That's right; no, a little further out--now then, steady!"
As he spoke, Gordon was slowly letting down the spear a little behind
the salmon, till, when it was about a foot above the fish, he paused,
and braced himself for the stroke, his left hand grasping the spear
about halfway down, to guide the aim, and the right hand holding it
near the top to give the blow, while his face was nearly buried in the
water, as he kept his eye on his prey.
"Further out yet with the cap, Sandy. Now, hold on!"
Down shot the spear: for one instant the shaft shook violently as the
struck salmon struggled beneath the weight which was pinning it to the
bottom, and the next, with a loud splash and flurry, the strong fish
bore to the surface, and shaking himself off the barbs, dragged Gordon,
still holding on to the spear, headlong into the pool.
A loud shout from the watchers on the top of the precipice greeted this
"coup," and on the gillie, who had been posted near the bottom of the
pool, announcing that "the fish had ne'er come his way," all those who
had, up to this time, been mere passive spectators, made the best of
their way down the rocks, to take their part in the coming struggle.
With a few strokes Alick gained the shallows at the tail of the pool,
and as the stream divided into two chief courses, himself commanded one
with his spear, and deputed the other to Hugh Ross. Meanwhile, Frank
was directing the gillies, who were "poking" the fall and deep water
with the long poles we mentioned, a proceeding intended to drive any
fish that might be lying about there down to the lower end of the pool,
where they would meet the spearmen, or else to take refuge behind the
big rocks and boulders, where they might be discovered afterwards. All
was noise and eagerness, save with the two spearmen, who, silent as
statues, were keenly watching the few yards of clear water in front of
them, ready to spring into life the moment they detected the approach
of a fish. And as Hugh Ross looked, a black shadow of a sudden swept
down with the current before him, and as he moved a step to meet it,
whisked away, and shot past him with the arrow-like speed which a
salmon, better than any fish that swims, can command; but the active
Highlander was a match for the occasion, and with a dexterity which
must be seen to be appreciated, gave a backward spring, and struck
sharp down with his spear a good two feet in front of his mark; and as
he held the struggling fish down by bearing with his whole weight on
his weapon, the shaking shaft told of the good quarry he had secured.
With a wild shout of triumph Alick rushed to the rescue, and throwing
himself down in the water, seized the salmon under the gills, and
quickly bore him to land, where Marston's injunction was acted upon,
and the crimping-knife brought into play.
"Ye took a good shot, too, Mister Alick," said Hugh Ross, looking at
the wound behind the head which Gordon had given; "but he was a
clean-run fish, and as full of life as a stag in August; and I'm
thinking he will not have joost right justice at fifteen pounds'
weight."
"I'd be sorry to carry him at that weight, Hugh," answered his master.
"But all the merit belongs to you, for little should we ever have seen
of him again but for that flying shot of yours. However, there he is,
and a beautifully-shaped fish too; so tie him up, and let's carry him
off to the house, where you'll get glory enough from both Mr Marston
and the cook. Come along Frank."
So saying, Alick marched away, followed by the rest of the party. On
arriving at the lodge, they found that Marston had not yet returned; so
it being still early in the day, they debated as to the best method of
employing the time yet left them; and as the bright still weather
effectually negatived all propositions of going after grouse or taking
a cast with a fly in any of the Upper Pools, the suggestion of Hugh
Ross who had become unusually keen after his triumph of the morning, to
rest till the evening and then make a night of it with the spear at the
mouth of the river Arkail, was unanimously adopted. There was a good
thirteen miles' walk over the hill between the lodge and the intended
scene of the night's operation, but our hardy young sportsmen regarded
that only so far as to order their dinner at an earlier hour than
usual, so as to start in time in the evening, and employed the
intervening period in tying up bundles of fir-splinters to make
torches, and in providing themselves with dry suits of clothing, after
the wetting they had just received.
Shortly before seven o'clock they were ready to start, and having left
a note for Marston, who had not yet returned from the hill, they set
out, following Hugh Ross in single file, as he led the way over the
darkening moor. All were too well accustomed to the work to come to
much grief over the broken ground, beyond an occasional stumble or
sudden fall as the foot slipped into an unseen hole in the moss; and
before long the autumn moon rose full and bright to light their way,
promising an idle time of it to the torches, which some of the gillies
bore patiently on.
It was not yet eleven o'clock when the sportsmen stood on the banks of
the Arkail, looking happily across the broad river, which flowed
musically over its shallow bed, showing almost clearer in the silver
radiance of the moon than in the dazzling splendour which lit it up
during the day; but across on the opposite bank the trees which fringed
its sides stood out black and heavy as a wall of rock.
"What a glorious night!" exclaimed Alick, as the scene first burst upon
him. "Look, Frank, away over there where the river runs into the Firth;
that bit of it you see by the farthest corner gleams like a sheet of
pure silver, and the Inch-na-coul hills look as if they were touched
with hoar-frost. Isn't it pretty? and what a night for us! Come on,
Hugh and Sandy there, let's be getting to work, but warm the cockles of
your heart first with a drop of whisky. Here, try my flask, Hugh.
That's right--the same to you, thanks, and good luck to us both," as
the forester drank his young master's health; "and I think I shall stay
about here with Mr Frank, if you will go a little lower down and post
the boys, and tell them to keep a sharp look-out, and mind and 'holloa'
in time; and I say, Donald there, don't you be giving us any stones for
fish to-night, you rascal." (This was in reference to a false alarm
raised on a previous occasion by the unhappy Donald, who had mistaken
the ripple caused by a stone lying in the way of the stream for the
wake made by a travelling salmon, and had given notice accordingly: and
while here, we may explain that the _modus operandi_ in salmon-spearing
by night is to post watchers down the bank at regular intervals, who on
seeing the wake of a fish going steadily up stream--and remember that
salmon only travel or run up a river at night--shout to the spearmen
above to give notice, who, being put on the alert, wait till they also
see the little wave which marks their prey, and then walk into the
river to meet it.)
Away went Hugh and his subordinates, leaving the brothers to choose
their own positions; and as Alick walked off announcing his intention
of crossing the river and taking one of the gillies with him to command
the opposite side, Frank remained alone gazing at the running stream
before him, and taking stock of all the ripples and eddies caused by
the larger stones in the bed of the river, so that in the heat of the
moment, when instantly expecting the salmon of which notice might have
been given, he might not fall into Donald's error, and confound the
inanimate with the living agent. The witching stillness of the night,
broken only by the monotonous gurgling of the running waters and the
soft whispering of the trees, before long lulled the young watcher into
a state of semi-consciousness, in which he sat with open eyes staring
forward into the space before him, with a dim remembrance that he was
looking out for salmon, and that the white flood beneath him was a
river and the appointed subject of his closest observation; but a whole
shoal of salmon might have passed and dubbed him wisest of men for the
blissful ignorance he would have manifested of their presence, had not
a sudden shout of "Mark!" roused him from his somnolence and recalled
his wits to full life and activity. With ear and eye painfully alert,
he heard the shout taken up by the next gillie, and the sound of his
feet over the gravel as he ran along the river's side to keep his prey
in view; then the noise of some one cautiously wading out in the water,
a sudden rush and splashing, and the next minute a clamour of voices,
amongst which he could discern that of Hugh Ross calling for a light;
and as he looked far down the stream he saw a torch coming down the
bank and borne into the river, and the flare of the smoking pine-wood
showed him a dark group standing in the water, and for one moment he
fancied he saw the gleam of a fish being lifted out! and then, as the
group retreated to the bank, he again distinguished Hugh's voice
good-humouredly depreciating his own prowess, by proclaiming the
unimportance of his capture, which was "joost a sma' grilse, and no
worth the mentionin', an' it were not for makin' up the number."
The commotion created by this incident had barely subsided, when again
a sharp cry through the stillness of the night announced the approach
of another fish, and again Frank heard the warning taken up by one
watcher after another, when, as he stayed expecting each instant to
hear Hugh anticipate him in the encounter, his eye caught a moving
ripple in the water, a small advancing wave tailing into a broad wake,
and with a wild feeling of excitement he dropped into the river and
waded carefully in to meet it: he was yet six or seven yards above it,
as he stood nervously grasping his spear, and still he stood motionless
as a statue, till the wave washed up close beside him, when sharp and
sudden he launched out his spear--swish!--and the iron rattled on the
pebbles in the river, as the salmon dived down beneath the blow which
had grazed its back, and shot away up the stream.
"Alick, Alick, come here, I'm sure I struck it!" shouted the eager boy,
as he rushed headlong after his prey, ever and anon tripping over a
stone and falling with a loud splash into the shallow water, which for
more than a mile from the mouth of the Arkail was rarely more than
three feet deep; but though he every now and then fancied he saw the
salmon's wake still bearing on before him, he ran to little purpose but
to cover himself with wounds and bruises from head to foot, and was on
the very point of giving up his fruitless chase, from sheer exhaustion,
when a cry from his brother, sounding ahead of him, urged him on, and
as he turned a corner round which the river swept in a sharp curve, he
came upon Alick standing near the bank and pinning something down with
his spear to the bottom of the water. "Go down and get him under the
gills, old boy," was his brother's greeting, as Frank stumbled
breathlessly up; "he's a regular monster, and will take you all you
know to carry him in; but I think he's your friend, and he will count
as yours, if we find your mark on him." "First spear" always counted in
the Sunderbunds' (a precedent advanced by the speaker from his
reminiscences of pig-sticking in Lower Bengal).
"There it is then, Alick," said Frank, as he laid the fish down on the
river's bank and pointed to a jagged cut a little behind the dorsal
fin. "I did not allow enough in front, and should never have seen him
again but for you; but isn't he a thick fellow, and I can answer for
his weight already. I shouldn't care about carrying him to the lodge, I
know; but I suppose we had better take him back to the others, so we
may tie him up, if you have a bit of string with you. Thanks,--that
will do capitally."
Reader, I hope we have not failed by this time to give you an insight
into the mysteries of a sport which, though now defended by stringent
penalties, was no unworthy one in its time, requiring, as it did, the
utmost dexterity, training, and endurance: three objects which in
themselves are sufficient to elevate any pursuit which can promote
them, and which many seek to acquire amongst the mountains of
Switzerland or the hills of Scotland. In a lesser way, after the
fatigues of the London season, the gentler sex strive to attain the
same end by walking, riding, sailing, or otherwise recruiting with
fresh country air.