Then came the question as to whether all of them could pull down the opposite side of the loch to the big rock; for there they would have shelter for lunch; while here in the open every gust that swooped down from the Clebrig slopes caught them in mid career. Nay, just then the wind seemed to moderate; so they made all haste into the cobles; and in due time the whole party were landed at the rock, which, with its broad ledges for seats, and its overhanging ferns, formed a very agreeable and sheltered resort. Of course, there was but the one thing wanting. A fishing party at lunch on the shores of a Highland loch is a very picturesque thing; but it is incomplete without some beautiful silver-gleaming object in the foreground. There always is a bit of grass looking as if it were just meant for that display; and when the little plateau is empty, the picture lacks its chief point of interest. ’Well, you caught something if it wasn’t a salmon,’ her father said, glancing at her dripping hat and hair. ’Yes, we did,’ she answered innocently. ’You must be wet through in spite of your waterproof. Sometimes I could not see the boat at all for the showers of spray. Did you get much shelter where you stopped?’ ’Not much—a little.’ ’It was a pretty mad trick, your going out at all. Of course Ronald only went to please you; he must have known you hadn’t a ghost of a chance in a gale like that.’ ’Pappa dear,’ said she, ’there’s nothing mean about me. There’s many a girl I know would play it on her pa; but I’m not one of that kind. When I have three kings and a pair— ’Stop it, Carry,’ said he angrily, ’I’m tired of your Texas talk. What do you mean?’ ’I only want to show my hand,’ she said sweetly; and she called aloud—’Johnnie!’ The young lad jumped up from the group that were cowering under the shelter of the stone dyke. ’Bring the fish out of the boat, please.’ He went down to the coble, and got the salmon out of the well; and then, before bringing it and placing it on the grass before the young lady, he held it up in triumph for the gillies to see: the sarcasm was all the other way now. ’You see, pappa dear, you would have bet your boots against it, wouldn’t you?’ she remarked. ’But where did you get it?’ he said, in amazement. ’I was watching your boat all the time. I did not see you playing a fish.’ ’Because we got ashore as fast as we could, and had the fight out there. But please, pappa, don’t ask me anything more than that. I don’t know what happened. The wind was choking me, and I was half-blind, and the stones were slippery and moving, and—and everything was in a kind of uproar. Perhaps you don’t think I did catch the salmon. If my arms could speak, they could tell you a different tale just at this minute; and I shall have a back to-morrow morning, I know that. Seventeen pounds, Ronald says; and as prettily shaped a fish as he has ever seen taken out of the lake.’