"No; it was flying after a peewit, and the dog caught it. Willie
Hercus thrawed its neck."

"Well, well, that's most amazing. How I wish I'd been with you. I'd
rather hae caught a harrier than a hundred sea trout."

"Did ye get some good fishing at the Bush, sir?" I asked, changing
the subject.

"Oh, ay, very good, very good; thanks to those hooks o' yours,
Halcro. I left a dozen trout wi' Jack Paterson's wife, and a dozen
wi' Mary Firth, and these I brought home. That's no sae bad, is
it?"

Then, when he had satisfied his admiration of the dead hawk, he
took us into the schoolroom, to show the captain his cases of
stuffed birds and animals. Already he had determined that he would
mount the hawk in the attitude of swooping down upon a lapwing.

It turned out that Captain Gordon was interested in birds, and knew
a good deal about their habits. I remember he told us of a swallow
which had once flown on board his ship when they were over a
thousand miles from any land, and of how the bird, exhausted by its
long flight, allowed him to hold it in his hand and feed it with
small insects taken from the decayed timbers of the ship.

When we were seated at the table over our meal of fried trout, I
had to relate my experiences of the afternoon, which I did from
beginning to end, omitting only the circumstance of my fight with
Kinlay. I did not wish to say anything against a schoolmate, and an