IN STRATHAIVRON.
It was still early in the afternoon when Lionel found himself driving
along a loftily-winding road overlooking the wide and fertile valley of
the Aivron. Right down below him, and visible through the birch-trees,
was the river itself, of a brilliant, clear-shining blue, save where in
some more distant sweeps it shone a silver-white; on the other side of
the broad strath rose a range of hill fringed along its base with wood,
but terminating in the west in far altitudes of bare rock and heather;
while now and again he could catch a glimpse of some still more distant
peak or shoulder, no doubt belonging to the remote and mountainous
region of Assynt. And there, in the middle of the plain, stood the
shooting-lodge for which he was bound--a long, rambling building or
series of buildings, with all sorts of kennels and out-houses and
deer-houses attached; and as he was regarding this goal and aim of his
journey, and wondering how he was going to get across the swift-flowing
stream, behold! a white fluttering of handkerchiefs just outside the
porch. It was a signal to him, he knew; and he returned it more than
once--until, indeed, he discovered that his driver was leaving the road
and about to take the horses down a rudely cut track on the hillside.
"I say, isn't there a bridge anywhere?" he asked; for he was not used to
such exploits.
"Aw, no, there's no bridge," the old Highland driver said, coolly, as he
jammed down the brake. "But we'll do ferry well at the ford; the water
is not so high the now."
"And when the water is high, what do they do then?" Lionel asked, as he
regarded with some concern the almost vertical pole and the straining
harness.
"Aw, well, there uss a boat; and if there's a spate on the ruvver they
can come and go; but not with the heavy things. Ay, I hef seen tons of
coal waiting for them at Invershin for near a fortnight when there wass
a heavy spate on the ruvver. The leddies are so particular nowadays;
peat will not do for them for the cooking; naw, they must hef coal."
But now the horses were entering the stream, and the old man's loquacity
ceased. The animals, however, seemed quite accustomed to this
performance; without any hesitation they adventured into the rapid
current, and splashed their way forward, getting such footing as was
possible among the big, loose stones and shingle. Indeed, the passage
was effected with very little trouble, if with a good deal of jolting
and bumping; and thereafter there was a pleasant trot along some
sufficiently smooth greensward up to the door of the lodge.
Yes, here were the three tall and handsome sisters, looking very
picturesque in their simple Northern attire? and here was Miss Georgie
Lestrange conspicuous in a Tam o' Shanter of bright blue; and no sooner
had the young man descended from the wagonette than they surrounded him,
laughing and questioning, and giving him the heartiest of welcomes. How
could he answer them all at once? When the poor man was taken into the
dining-room, and set down to his solitary luncheon, they were all for
waiting on him and talking to him at the same time.
"It is so awfully kind of you to come," Lady Adela said, with one of her
most gracious smiles. "Now we shall hear about something else than dogs
and guns and grouse."
"Oh, Mr. Moore," cried Lady Rosamund (who was the youngest, and had a
bit of a temper, and was allowed to interfere when she liked), "do you
know a masque called 'Alfred'? You do? how delightful! Well, then, you
remember the visions of the future kings and queens that pass before
Alfred when he is in the Isle of Athelney? how can I get that done in
the open air? What kind of gauze do you use in the theatre? Could you
get me a bit? And would painted shades do instead of living
persons?--you see we have so few people to come and go on up here."
"And, Mr. Moore," cried Lady Sybil, "how are we to manage about an
accompaniment? A single violin is no use out in the open. Would it be
too dreadful if we had a harmonium concealed somewhere? We could get one
from Inverness; and you know a harmonium would do very well for the
music that introduces the visions."
"Mr. Moore," put in Miss Georgie Lestrange, with a complaining air,
"fancy their having given me another of Kitty Clive's characters; isn't
it too bad? Why, I'll go on and on until I identify myself with her
altogether; and then, you know, Kitty Clive wasn't--I'm afraid she
wasn't quite--"
"Oh, Mrs. Clive was all right; she was a great friend of Dr. Johnson,"
Lionel made answer, to reassure the young lady.
"But I wish you girls would leave off chattering, and let Mr. Moore get
something to eat," the young matron said, impatiently; and she herself
was so kind as to go and fetch the claret jug from the glide-table and
fill his glass.
However, there was peace in store for him. When he had finished with
this late lunch, Lady Adela begged him to excuse them if they left him
to shift for himself; they were busy dressmaking, she said. Would she
send for one of the keepers, who would show him one or two of the
nearest pools, so that he might try for a salmon? The gentlemen had all
gone down the strath, to test some new rifle, she thought; this was out
of consideration for her, for she could not bear shooting close to the
house; would he walk in that direction, and see what they were doing?
"Don't you trouble," he said, instantly. "You leave me to myself. I like
to wander about and find out my surroundings. I shall go down to the
river, to begin with; I saw some picturesque bits higher up when we were
coming along."
"You'll almost certainly find Honnor Cunyngham there," said Miss
Lestrange. "I suppose she has gone storking, as usual."
"Stalking?" said he, in some amazement.
"No, no--storking, as I call it. She haunts the side of the river like a
crane or a heron," said the red-haired damsel. "I think she would rather
land a salmon than go to heaven."
"Georgie," said the young matron, severely, "you are not likely ever to
do either; so you needn't be spiteful. Come away and get to work. Mr.
Moore, we dine at eight; and, if you are anywhere up or down the strath,
you'll hear the bell over the stables rung at seven, and then at
half-past."
So they went off and left him; and he was not displeased; he passed out
by the front door, lit a cigar, and strolled down towards the banks of
the Aivron. It was a bright and sweet-aired afternoon; he was glad to be
at the end of his journey; and this was a very charming, if somewhat
lonely, stretch of country in which he now found himself. The wide
river, the steep hillside beyond hanging in foliage, the valley
narrowing in among rocks and then leading away up to those far solitudes
of moorland and heather, broken only here and there by a single
pine--all these features of the landscape seemed so clear and fine in
color; there was no intervening haze; everything was vivid and
singularly distinct, and yet aërial and harmonious and retiring of hue.
But of course it was the stream--with its glancing lights, its living
change and motion, its murmuring, varying voice--that was the chief
attraction; and he wandered on by the side of it, noting here and there
the long, rippling shallows where the sun struck golden on the sand
beneath, watching the oily swirls of the deep black-brown pools as if at
any moment he expected to see a salmon leap into the air, and not even
uninterested in the calm eddies on the other side, where the smooth
water mirrored the yellow-green bank and the bushes and the overhanging
birch-trees. He sat down for a while, listening absently to this
continuous, soothing murmur, perhaps thinking of the roar of the great
city he had left. He was quite content to be alone; he did not even want
Maurice Mangan to be discoursing to him--in those seasons of calm in
which questions, long unanswered, perhaps never to be answered, will
arise.
Then he rose and went on again, for, from the high-road along which he
had driven, he had caught a glimpse of a wilder part of the glen, where
the river seemed to come tumbling down a rocky chasm, with some huge
boulders in mid-channel; and even now he could hear the distant, muffled
roar of the waters. But all of a sudden he stopped. Away along there,
and keeping guard (like a stork, as Miss Georgie Lestrange had
suggested) above the pool that lay on this side of the double waterfall,
was a young lady, her back turned towards him. So far as he could make
out, she wasn't doing anything; a long fishing-rod, with the butt on the
ground, she held idly in her right hand; while with her left hand she
occasionally shaded her face across towards the west--probably, as he
imagined, she was waiting for some of those smooth-sailing clouds to
come and obscure the too-fierce light of the sun. He knew who she was;
this must be Honnor Cunyngham, Lady Adela's sister-in-law; and of course
he did not wish to intrude on the young lady's privacy; he would try to
pass by behind her unobserved, though here the strath narrowed until it
was almost a defile.
He was soon relieved from all anxiety. Sharper eyes than his own had
perceived him. The young lady wheeled round; glanced at him for a
second; turned again; and then a thin, tall, old man, who had hitherto
been invisible to him, rose from his concealment among the rocks close
to her and came along the river bank. He was a very handsome old man,
this superannuated keeper, with his keen, aquiline nose, his clear, gray
eyes, and frosted hair.
"Miss Honnor says will you hef a cast, sir? There's some clouds will be
over soon."
"Oh, no, thank you, I could not dream of interrupting her," Lionel said;
and then it occurred to him that he ought to go and thank the young lady
herself for this frank invitation. "I--I'll go along and tell her so."
As he walked towards her he kept his eye, somewhat furtively, on her,
though now she had turned her back again; and all he could make out was
that she had a very elegant figure; that she was tall--though not so
tall as her three sisters-in-law; and that her abundant brown hair was
short and curly and kept close to her head, almost like a boy's. Were
not her shoulders a trifle square-set for a woman?--but perhaps that
appearance was owing to her costume, for she wore a Norfolk jacket of
gray homespun that looked as if it could afford a good defence against
the weather. She was entirely in gray, in fact; for her short-skirted
dress was of the same material; and so also was the Tam o' Shanter,
adorned with salmon flies, that she wore on her shapely head of
golden-brown curls. Oh, yes, she looked sufficiently picturesque,
standing there against the glow of the western skies, with the long
salmon-rod in her right hand; but he was hardly prepared for what
followed. The moment that she heard him draw near, she wheeled round and
regarded him for a second--regarded him with a glance that rather
bewildered him by reason of its transparent honesty and directness. The
clear hazel eyes seemed to read him through and through, and yet not to
be aware of their own boldness; and he did not know why he was so glad
to hear that she had a soft and girlish voice, as she said,
"You are Mr. Moore. I am Lady Adela's sister--of course you know. Won't
you take my rod? There will be some shadow very soon, I think."
"Oh, certainly not--certainly not," said he. "But I should be delighted
if you would let me stay and look on; it would interest me quite as
much--every bit as much."
"Oh, stay by all means," said she, turning to look at the western sky.
"But I wish you would take my rod. What are they all about to let you
come wandering out alone, on the first day of your arrival?"
"Oh, that's quite right," said he, cheerfully. "Lady Adela and the young
ladies are all busy dressmaking."
"Ye may be getting ready, Miss Honnor," old Robert interposed. "There'll
be a cloud over the sun directly."
Thus admonished, the tall young fisher-maiden stepped down by the side
of a rock overhanging this wide, black-swirling pool, and proceeded to
get her tackle in order.
"You know I'll give you my rod whenever you like to take a turn," said
she, addressing Lionel even as she was getting the fly on to the water.
"But we can't afford to waste a moment of shadow. I have done nothing
all day on account of the sunlight."
And now the welcome shade was over, and, after a preliminary cast or two
to get the line out, she was sending her fly well across, and letting it
drift quietly down the stream, to be recovered by a series of small and
gentle jerks. Lionel was supposed to be looking on at the fishing; but,
when he dared, he was stealing covert glances at her; for this was one
of the most striking faces he had seen for many a day. There was a
curiously pronounced personality about her features, refined as they
were; her lips were proud--and perhaps a little firmer than usual just
now, when she was wielding a seventeen-foot rod; her clear hazel eyes
were absolutely fearless; and her broadly marked and somewhat square
eyebrows appeared to lend strength rather than gentleness to the
intellectual forehead. Then the stateliness of her neck and the set of
her head; she seemed to recall to him some proud warrior-maiden out of
Scandinavian mythology--though she was dressed in simple homespun and
had for her only henchman this quiet old Robert, who, crouching down
under a birch-tree, was watching every cast made by his mistress with
the intensest interest. And at last Lionel was startled to hear the old
man call out, but in an undertone--"Ho!"
Honnor Cunyngham began coolly to pull in her line through the rings.
"What is it?" Lionel asked, in wonder.
"I rose a fish then, but he came short," she said, quietly. "We'll give
him a rest. A pretty good one, wasn't he, Robert?"
"Ay, he wass that, Miss Honnor, a good fish. And ye did not touch him?"
"Not at all; he'll come again sure enough."
And then she turned to Lionel? and he was pleased to observe, as she
went on to speak to him about her sisters-in-law and their various
pursuits, that, proud as those lips were, a sort of grave good-humor
seemed to be their habitual expression, and also that those
transparently honest, hazel eyes had a very attractive sunniness in them
when she was amused.
"The dressmaking," she said. "Of course you know what that is about.
They are preparing another of those out-of-door performances. Oh, yes,
they are very much in earnest," she went on, with a smile that lightened
and sweetened the pronounced character of her face.
"And you are to be entertained this time. They are not going to ask you
to do anything. Last time, at Campden Hill, you took a principal part,
didn't you?--but this time you are merely to be a guest--a spectator."
"And which are you to be, Miss Cunyngham?" he made bold to ask.
"I? Oh, they never ask me to join in those things," she said, pleasantly
enough. "The sacred fire has not descended on me. They say that I regard
their performances as mere childish amusement; but I don't really; it
isn't for a Philistine like myself to express disdain about anything.
But then, you see, if I were to try to join in with my clever sisters,
and perhaps when they were most in earnest, I might laugh; and
enthusiasts couldn't be expected to like that, could they?"
She spoke very honestly and fairly, he thought, and without showing
anything like scorn of what she did not sympathize with; and yet somehow
he felt glad that he was not expected to take a part in this new masque.
"From what I remember of it," said he, "I suppose it will be mostly a
pageant--there is plenty of patriotic sentiment in it, but hardly any
action, as far as I recollect. Of course, I know it chiefly because the
poet Thomson wrote it, or partly wrote it, and because he put 'Rule
Britannia' into it. Isn't it odd," he added, with a touch of adroit
flattery (as he considered), "that the two chief national songs of
England, 'Ye Mariners of England' and 'Rule Britannia' should both have
been written by Scotchmen?"
She paid no heed to this compliment; indeed he might have known that the
old Scotch families (many of them of Norman origin, by the way) have so
intermarried with English families that they have very little distinct
nationality, though they may be proud enough of their name. This young
lady was no more Scotch than himself.
"I will try him again now," said she, with a glance at the water, and
forthwith she set to work with rod and line, beginning a few yards
farther up the stream, and gradually working down to where she had risen
the fish. As she came near the spot, Lionel could see that she was
covering every inch of water with the greatest care, and also that at
the end of each cast she let the fly hang for a time in the current. He
became quite anxious himself. Was she not quite close to the fish now?
Or had he caught too clear a glimpse of the fly on the previous
occasion, and gone away? Yes, she must be almost over him now; and yet
there was no sign. Or past him? Or he might have turned and gone a yard
or two farther down? Then, as this eagerly interested spectator was
intently watching the swirls of the deep pool, there was a sudden wave
on the surface, she struck up her rod slightly, and the next moment away
went her line tearing through the water, while the reel screamed out its
joyous note of recognition. Old Robert jumped to his feet. At the same
instant the fish made another appalling rush, far away on the opposite
side of the river, and at the end of it flashed into the air--a swift
gleam of purple-blue and silver that revealed his splendid size. Lionel
was quite breathless with excitement. He dared not speak to her, for
fear of distracting her attention. But she was apparently quite calm;
and old Robert looked on without any great solicitude, as if he knew
that his young mistress needed neither advice nor assistance. Meanwhile
the salmon had come back into the middle of the stream, where it lay
deep, only giving evidence of its existence by a series of vicious tugs.
"I don't like that tugging, Robert," she said. "He knows too much. He
has pulled himself free from a fly before."
"Ay, ay, I'm afraid of that too," old Robert said, with his keen eyes
fixed on every movement of the straining line.
Then the fish lay still and sulked; and she took the opportunity of
moving a little bit up-stream and reeling in a yard or two.
"Would you like to take the rod now, Mr. Moore?" she said, generously.
"Oh, certainly not," he exclaimed. "I would not for worlds you should
lose the salmon--and do you think I could take the responsibility?"
He ceased speaking, for he saw that her attention had once more been
drawn to the salmon, which was now calmly and steadily making up-stream.
He watched the slow progress of the line; and then, to his horror, he
perceived that the fish was heading for the other side of a large gray
rock that stood in mid-channel. If he should persist in boring his way
up that farther current, would not he inevitably cut the line on the
rock? What could she do? Still nearer and nearer to the big boulder went
that white line, steadily cutting through the brown water; and still she
said not a word, though Lionel fancied she was now putting on a heavier
strain. At last the line was almost touching the stone; and there the
salmon lay motionless. He was within half a yard of certain freedom, if
only he had known; for the water was far too deep to allow of old Robert
wading in and getting the line over the rock. But just as Lionel, far
more excited than the fisher-maiden herself, was wondering what was
going to happen next, the whole situation of affairs was reversed in a
twinkling; the salmon suddenly turned and dashed away down-stream until
it was right at the end of the pool, and there, in deep water on the
other side, it resumed its determined tugging, so that the pliant top of
the rod was shaken as if by a human hand.
"That is what frightens me," she said to Lionel. "I don't like that at
all."
But what could he do to help her? Eager wishes were of no avail; and yet
he felt as if the crowning joy of his life would be to see that splendid
big fish safely out there on the bank. All his faculties seemed to be
absorbed in the contemplation of that momentous struggle. The past and
the future were alike cut off from him--he had forgotten all about the
theatre and its trumpery applause--he had no thought but for the unseen
creature underneath the water, that was dashing its head from side to
side, and then boring down, and then sailing away over to the opposite
shallows, exhausting every manoeuvre to regain its liberty. He could not
speak to her; what was anything he could say as compared with the
tremendous importance of the next movement on the part of the fish? But
she was calm enough.
"He doesn't tire himself much, Robert," she said. "He keeps all his
strength for that tugging."
But just as she spoke the salmon began to come into mid-stream again,
and she stepped a yard or two back, reeling in the line swiftly. Once or
twice she looked at the top of the rod: there was a faint strain on,
nothing more. Then her enemy seemed inclined to yield a little; she
reeled in still more quickly; knot after knot of the casting-line
gradually rose from the surface; at last they caught sight of a dull,
bronze gleam--the sunlight striking through the brown water on the side
of the fish. But he had no intention of giving in yet; he had only come
up to look about him. Presently he headed up-stream again--quietly and
steadily; then there was another savage shaking of his head and tugging;
then a sharp run and plunge; and again he lay deep, jerking to get this
unholy thing out of his jaw. Lionel began to wonder that any one should
voluntarily and for the sake of amusement undergo this frightful
anxiety. He knew that if he had possession of the rod, his hands would
be trembling; his breath would be coming short and quick; that a
lifetime of hope and fear would be crowded into every minute. And yet
here was this girl watching coolly and critically the motion of the
line, and showing not the slightest trace of excitement on her finely
cut, impressive features. But he noticed that her lips were firm;
perhaps she was nerving herself not to betray any concern.
"I think I am getting the better of him, Robert," said she, presently,
as the fish began to steer a little in her direction.
"I would step back a bit, Miss Honnor," the keen-visaged old gillie
said; but he did not step back; on the contrary, he crouched down by the
side of a big boulder, close to the water, and again he tried his gaff,
to make sure that the steel clip was firmly fixed in the handle.
[Illustration: "_And yet here was this girl watching coolly and
critically the motion of the line._"]
Yes, there was no doubt that the salmon was beaten. He kept coming
nearer and nearer to the land, led by the gentle, continuous strain of
the pliant top, though ever and anon he would vainly try to head away
again into deep water. It was a beautiful thing to look at: this huge,
gleaming creature taken captive by an almost invisible line, and
gradually yielding to inevitable fate. Joy was in Lionel's heart. If he
had wondered that any one, for the sake of amusement, should choose to
undergo such agonies of anxiety, he wondered no more. Here was the
fierce delight of triumph. The struggle of force against skill was about
over; there was no more tugging now; there were no more frantic rushes
or bewildering leaps in the air. Slowly, slowly the great fish was being
led in to shore. Twice had old Robert warily stretched out his gaff,
only to find that the prize was not yet within his reach. And then, just
as the young lady with the firm-set lips said, 'Now, Robert!' and just
as the gaff was cautiously extended for the third time, the salmon gave
a final lurch forward, and the next instant--before Lionel could tell
what had happened--the fly was dangling helplessly in the air, and the
fish was gone.
"_Au Yeea!_" said Robert, in an undertone, to himself; while Lionel, as
soon as he perceived the extent of the catastrophe, felt as though some
black horror had fallen over the world. He could not say a word; he
seemed yearning to have the fish for one second again where he had
lately seen it--and then wouldn't he have gladly jumped into the stream,
gaff in hand, to secure the splendid trophy! But now--now there was
nothing but emptiness and a lifeless waste of hurrying water.
And as regards the young lady? Well, she smiled--in a disconcerted way,
to be sure; and then she said, with apparent resignation,
"I almost expected it. I never do hope to get a tugging salmon; all the
way through I was saying to myself we shouldn't land him. However,
there's no use fretting over lost fish. We did our best, Robert, didn't
we?"
"Indeed you could not hef done better, Miss Honnor," said the old
gillie. "There wass no mistake that you made at ahl."
"Very well," said she, cheerfully; and she looked in a kindly way
towards the old man. "I did everything right? and as for you, no one
will tell me that the best gillie in Ross-shire did anything wrong; so
we have nothing to reproach ourselves with, Robert, have we?"
"But it is such a dreadful misfortune!" exclaimed Lionel, who could
hardly understand this equanimity. "Another couple of seconds, and you
must have had him."
"Well, now, Robert," said she, briskly, "shall we go up and try the tail
of the Long Pool? Or go down to the Stones?"
"We'll chist go up to the tail of the Long Pool, Miss Honnor," said he;
and he took the rod from her, picked up her waterproof, and set out;
while Lionel, without waiting for any further invitation, accompanied
her.
And as they walked along, picking their way among boulders and bracken
and heather, he was asking her whether the heart-breaking accidents and
bitter disappointments of salmon-fishing were not greater than its
rewards; as to which she lightly made answer:
"You must come and try. None of the gentlemen here are very eager
anglers; I suppose they get enough of salmon-fishing in the spring. Now
if you care about it at all, one rod is always enough for two people,
and we could arrange it this way--that you should take the pools where
wading is necessary. They'll get a pair of waders for you at the lodge.
At present old Robert does all the wading that is wanted; but of course
I don't care much about playing a fish that has been hooked by somebody
else. Now, you would take the wading pools."
"Oh, thank you," said he, "but I'm afraid I should show myself such a
duffer. I used to be a pretty fair trout-fisher when I was a lad," he
went on to say; and then it suddenly occurred to him that the offer of
her companionship ought not to be received in this hesitating fashion.
"But I shall be delighted to try my hand, if you will let me; and of
course you must see that I don't disturb the best pools."
So they passed up through the narrow gorge, where the heavy volume of
water was dashing down in tawny masses between the rocks, and got into
the open country again, where the strath broadened out in a wide expanse
of moorland. Here the river ran smooth between low banks, bordered now
and again by a fringe of birch, and there was a greater quiet
prevailing, the farther and farther they got away from the tumbling
torrents below. But when they reached the Long Pool no fishing was
possible; the afternoon sun struck full on the calm surface of the
water; there was not a breath of wind to stir the smooth-mirrored blue
and white; they could do nothing but choose out a heathery knoll on the
bank, and sit down and wait patiently for a passing cloud.
"I suppose," said she, clasping her fingers together in her lap--"I
suppose you are all eagerness about to-morrow morning?"
"Oh, I am not going shooting to-morrow," said he.
"What!" she exclaimed. "To be on a grouse-moor on the Twelfth, and not
go out?"
"It is because it is the Twelfth; I don't want to spoil sport," said he,
modestly. "And I don't want to make a fool of myself either. If I could
shoot well enough, and if there were a place for me, I should be glad to
go out with them; but my shooting is, like my fishing, a relic of
boyhood's days; and I should not like to make an exhibition of myself
before a lot of crack shots."
"That is only false pride", said she, in her curiously direct,
straightforward way. "Why should you be ashamed to admit that there are
certain things you can't do as well as you can do certain other things?
There is no particular virtue in having been brought up to the use of a
gun or rod. Take your own case. You are at home on the stage. There you
know everything--you are the master, the proficient. But take the crack
shots and put them on the stage, and ask them to do the simplest
thing--then it is their turn to be helpless, not to say ridiculous."
"Perhaps," said he, rather tentatively, "you mean that we should all of
us keep to our own walks in life?"
"I'm sure I don't mean anything of the kind," said she, with much
frankness. "I only mean that if you are not a first-rate shot, you need
not be ashamed of it; you should remember there are other things you can
do well. And really you must go out to-morrow morning. My brother was
talking about it at breakfast; and I believe the proposal is that you go
with him and Captain Waveney. If any little mistake is made, Captain
Waveney is the man to retrieve it--at least so I've heard them say."
"At all events," said he, "if I go with them at all, it will not be
under false pretences. I shall warn them, to begin with, that I am a bad
shot; then I can't be found out. And they must put me in a position
where I can't do much harm."
"I dare say you shoot very well," she said, with a smile. "Gentlemen
always talk like that on the evening before the Twelfth, if they have
come to a strange moor."
But now she had risen again, for a breath of wind was stirring along the
strath, while some higher air-currents were slowly bringing certain
fleecy clouds across from the west. As soon as the welcome shade had
stolen over the river, she began to cast; and on this smooth water he
could see more clearly what an excellent line this was that she sent
out. Not a long line--perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four yards--but
thrown most admirably, the fly lighting on the surface like a snowflake.
Moreover, he was now a little bit behind her, so that he could with
impunity regard the appearance of this newly-found companion--her lithe
and agile form, the proud set of her neck and head, the beautiful close
masses of her curly, golden-brown hair, and the fine contour of her
sun-tanned cheek. Then the vigorous exercise in which she was engaged
revealed all the suppleness and harmonious proportions of her figure;
for here was no pretty wrist-work of trout-fishing, but the wielding of
a double-handed salmon-rod; and she had taught herself the gillies'
method of casting--that is to say, she made the backward cast by
throwing both arms right up in the air, so that, as she paused to let
the line straighten out behind, her one hand was on a level with her
forehead, and the other more than a foot above that. Lionel thought that
before he tried casting in the presence of Miss Honnor Cunyngham, he
should like to get a few quiet lessons from old Robert.
However, all this expenditure of skill proved to be of no avail. She
could not move a fin; nor had Robert any better luck, when, they having
come to a shallow reach, she allowed the old man, who was encased in
waders, to get into the water and fish along the opposite bank. When he
came ashore again, his young mistress said,
"Dame Fortune hasn't forgiven us for letting that first one go." And old
Robert, who had probably never heard of Dame Fortune (or may have
considered the phrase a polite and young-lady-like form of swearing),
merely made answer,
"Ay, Miss Honnor, we'll go and try the Small Pool, now."
The Small Pool lies between the Long Pool and the Rock Pool; it is a
circular, deep, black hole, in which the waters collect before dashing
and roaring down between the great gray boulders; and to fish it you
must get out on certain knife-like ledges that seem to offer anything
but a secure foothold. However, Miss Honnor did not think twice about
it; and, indeed, as she made her way out on those narrow slips of rock,
Lionel perceived that her boots, which were laced in front like men's
boots, if they were small enough as regarded that portion covering the
foot, were provided with most sensibly wide soles, which, again were
studded with nails. And there, balancing herself as best she might, she
got out a short line, and began industriously to cover every inch of the
surging and whirling water. A most likely-looking place, Lionel thought
to himself, as he sat and looked on. But here also they were doomed to
disappointment. It is true she hooked a small sea-trout--and was
heartily glad when it shook itself free, thereby saving her time and
trouble. All the rest of her labor was expended for nothing; so finally
she had to reel up and make her way ashore, where she surrendered her
rod to the old gillie.
Then they passed down through the narrow defile again and came in view
of the wide path--now all saffron-tinted in the evening sunlight--with
the lodge and its straggling dependencies in the midst of the plain.
Perhaps it was this sight of the house that recalled to her what they
had been talking of some time before; for, as they walked along the
river-bank, she was again urging him to go out on the following morning;
and not only that, but she declared he must have one or two days'
deer-stalking while he was in the North. If he missed, then he missed;
why should he care what foresters and gillies thought of him? Of course
he was very grateful to her for all her kind patronage; but he could not
help thinking it rather odd to find a woman lending courage to a
man--counselling him to be independent and to have no fear of ridicule.
"I recollect," he said to her, "once hearing Lord Rockminster say that
until a man has gone deer-stalking he can have no idea what extremes of
misery a human being is capable of enduring."
"Lord Rockminster is incurably lazy," she said. "I think if you found
yourself riding along this strath some night about eight or nine
o'clock, knowing that away up among the hills you had left a stag of ten
or twelve points to be sent for and brought down the next morning--then
I think you wouldn't be reflecting on the discomforts you had gone
through, or, if you did, it would be with pride. Why," said she, "you
surely didn't come to the Highlands to play at private theatricals?"
"I get enough of the theatre in the South," he said, "as you may well
imagine."
But here was a bend of the river sheltered from the weltering sun by a
steep and wooded hill; and Miss Cunyngham, at old Robert's suggestion,
began work again. It was really most interesting to watch this graceful
casting; Lionel, sitting down on the heather and smoking a cigarette,
seemed to want no other occupation; he forgot what the object of
throwing a fly was, the throwing of the fly seemed to be enough in
itself. He had grown to think that all these oily sweeps of brown water,
touched here and there by dark, olive-green reflections, were useful
only as showing where the fly dropped; there was no fish watching the
slow jerking of the "Bishop" across the current; the one salmon that
haunted the Rock Pool had put in an appearance and gone away long ago.
But suddenly there was a short, sharp scream of the reel; then silence.
"What is it, Robert?" she said--apparently holding on to something.
"Another sea-trout?"
"Oh, no, Miss Honnor, I am not thinking that--"
The words were hardly out of his mouth when it became abundantly clear
that the unknown creature in the deeps had not the least intention of
concealing his identity. A sudden rush down-stream, followed by a wild
splashing and thrashing on the surface, was only the first of a series
of performances that left Miss Honnor not one single moment of
breathing-space. Either she was following him rapidly down the river, or
following him up again, or reeling in swiftly as he came sailing towards
her, or again she could only stand in breathless suspense as he flung
himself into the air and then beat and churned the water, shaking the
line this way and that.
"Oh, you wicked little wretch!" she cried, at a particularly vicious
flourish out of the water; but this was the kind of fish she liked; this
was a fish that fought fair--a gentlemanly fish, without the thought of
a sulk in him--a very Prince Rupert even among grilse; this was no
malevolent, underhand, deep-boring tugger. Indeed, these brilliant
dashes and runs and summersaults soon began to tell The gallant little
grilse was plainly getting the worst of it. He allowed himself to be
led; but, whenever she stepped back on the bank and tried to induce him
to come in, at the first appearance of shallow water he would instantly
sheer off again with all the strength that was left in him. Fortunately
he seemed inclined to head up-stream; and she humored him in that, for
there the water was deeper under the bank. Even then he fought
splendidly to the last. As soon as he got to recognize that an enemy was
waiting for him--an enemy armed with some white, shining thing that he
more than once warily slipped out of--he would make struggle after
struggle to keep away--until at last there was a sudden, swift, decisive
stroke of the steel clip, and Robert had his glittering prize safely
ashore.
"What o'clock is it, Mr. Moore?" said Miss Honnor--but she seemed
pleased with the result of this brisk encounter.
He looked at his watch.
"Half-past seven," he said.
"Yes; I thought I heard the first bell; we must make haste home. Not but
that my sisters are very good to me," she continued, as she took the fly
that Robert handed her and stuck it in her Tam o' Shanter; "if I happen
to have got hold of a fish, I am allowed to come in to dinner anyhow.
And then, you know, there is no great ceremony at this bungalow of a
place; it's different at the Braes, if Lady Adela happens to have a
large house-party--then I have to behave like other folk. What do you
say, Robert--seven pounds? Well, he made a good fight of it. And I'm
glad not to be going home empty-handed."
So Lionel picked up her waterproof and put it over his arm; she
shouldered her fishing-rod, after having reeled in the line; the
handsome old gillie brought up the rear with the gaff and the slung
grilse; and thus equipped the three of them set out for the
lodge--across the wide valley that was now all russet and golden under
the warm light still lingering in the evening skies.