gain insisted on stopping.

"You promised that you would let me fish on our way back, and I am sure
there must be numbers about here," he said, throwing in his line.

"I should not wonder that there was no worm on your hook," observed
Sandy, after they had waited some time. "I thought so," he continued,
when Norman pulled up his line; "you canna expect ony fish to bite at a
bare hook."

"But put on another worm," said Norman, who again tried for some time
with equal want of success.

He was beginning to lose patience.

"Try deeper, young gentleman, fish swim further down than you think
for," observed Sandy.

Norman did not know what he meant, and so Sandy slipped the float
considerably higher up the line. Still no fish were to be tempted by
his worm.

"I wish you would make them bite," Norman exclaimed petulantly. "I
shall never catch anything with this stupid stick and string; Mr
Maclean ought to have lent me one of his own rods, and then I should
have caught some fish for him."

Sandy who would never allow anything to be said against the laird in his
presence, felt very angry with Norman at this remark.

"You are very ungrateful, young gentleman, to say that," he remarked.
"I have let you fish long enough already, though if you were to try till
nightfall, you would go back with your basket empty, so just draw in
your line and pit quiet, it's time to be making our way back."

Norman looked somewhat surprised at this address.

"It's all the fault of the stupid stick," he exclaimed, and standing up
he threw it away from him into the loch, and began dancing about to give
vent to his anger and disappointment.

The old man rowed on, taking no notice of his foolish conduct. Fanny,
however, felt very much ashamed of him, and begged him to be quiet, but
he only jumped about the more, declaring that he would complain to his
mamma of the way Sandy had treated him.

After he had thus given vent to his feelings for some time, and had
become more quiet, Sandy, who was really good-natured, and was sorry for
his disappointment, promised that if he would be a good boy, he would
take him out in the evening when the fish were more ready to bite, and
show him how he himself caught them. This pacified him, and he sat
quiet for some time. Still, as he thought how foolish he would look
going back with his big basket and no fish in it, he began again to grow
angry.

"It's all Fanny's fault," he said to himself, "if sh