Volume Ii Part 9 (1/2)
The usual hack races for saddles and bridles followed, and the day's sport came to an end without a fight, thanks to the priest, whose exertions to keep the peace would have satisfied a community of Quakers, although they might not approve of the mode by which the object was effected.
We had hardly finished dinner at the lodge, when the carriages with our guests for the ball began to arrive, those from a distance looking with dismay at the wreck of the tent, that still lay strewed on the lawn.
They were all directed forward to the barn, however, whither we were soon prepared to follow.
Although my confidence in the ability and resources of the ladies of our party was nearly unlimited, I could hardly avoid feeling some slight misgivings on entering the barn, knowing the short time they had to work in, and how heavily the mishap of the morning must have told against them. All, however, agreed that they had seldom seen a prettier room. The walls and roof were completely covered with fis.h.i.+ng-nets, filled in and concealed by purple and white heath. The effect was remarkably good; and if the storm had deprived the supper-table of many of the light dishes, quite enough was left to satisfy guests who were not disposed to be critical.
I shall not detain the reader by giving a description of the ball, which proved a complete success, more than compensating us for the trouble and anxiety we had undergone. It was seldom the girls in the neighbourhood had a chance of enjoying themselves in that way, and they seemed resolved to make the most of it. Human endurance, however, has its limits. Towards morning the band, whose ”staying powers” were sorely tried, began to show symptoms of mutiny. Threats and bribes (the latter too often administered in the shape of champagne) were tried, and they were induced to continue for another hour. The result may easily be antic.i.p.ated: they broke down hopelessly, at last, in the middle of ”Sir Roger.” A sudden change in the music made us all stop, and to our dismay we found one half of the performers playing ”G.o.d save the Queen.” The others had just commenced ”Partant pour la Syrie,”
while the ”big drum” was furiously beating the ”tattoo” in a corner.
Turning them all out, we threw open the windows. A flood of suns.h.i.+ne poured into the room, and the cool fresh sea breeze swept joyously round, extinguis.h.i.+ng the lights. This was the signal for a general departure. One by one our fair guests drove away, leaving
”The banquet-hall deserted.”
The last man to go was the priest. As he mounted his horse I saw him hand d.i.c.k a sheaf of dingy-looking bank-notes, and they parted, hoping to meet again the following season, when the latter pledged himself to bring something out of his own stable to race against the mare. But we only appeared there once since in public, and that was at a wedding.
Before the next autumn came round we had settled down into steady married men. I still hunt, but have grown stouter, and the old mare has given place to a weight-carrier. The mare draws my wife and children to church regularly, however, and though rather matronly-looking, is as full of life and spirit as when she started with her master to win his first and ”last” steeple-chase.
SALMON-SPEARING
_Hei mihi praeteritum 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 pa.s.sage to the home-sick fish and l.u.s.ty 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 n.o.ble 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 p.r.o.ngs, barbed like a fish-hook, the p.r.o.ngs 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 subst.i.tution 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-gla.s.s-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 pa.s.sed 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 Sa.s.senach e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns 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. Brus.h.i.+ng 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, a.s.signed to each his post and duty. A long, narrow, black pool, shallowing towards the tail into a rus.h.i.+ng stream, das.h.i.+ng 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 finis.h.i.+ng 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 n.o.ble 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 fis.h.i.+ng-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.”