Still Fanny continued to make her remarks, and to utter exclamations of delight, and Sandy was at all events satisfied that she was well pleased.
“I wish you would not talk so much, Fanny,” cried Norman. “I have been fishing away for I don’t know how long, and I have not caught anything yet, and I am sure it is all your fault. You frighten the fish away.”
“Unless the fish come to the top of the water, they are not likely to bite at your hook,” she replied, “for I have seen it floating there, ever since Sandy began to row.”
“Can’t you stop rowing then, and let me catch some fish,” exclaimed Norman, turning round with an aggrieved look to the old man. “It matters much more that I should catch fish, than that we should get to the end of the loch just to please Fanny.”
“I have no objection to stop rowing if you wish it, young gentleman,” said Sandy, “though I would rather hear you say that you wanted to please your sister more than yourself.”
Norman did not heed the rebuke, but seeing his hook sink down fully believed that he was going to catch a fish. He waited and waited with unusual patience for him, but still his float rested without moving on the calm waters.
“There are no fish here, young gentleman, that have a fancy for your hook. We will go on to the end of the loch as I promised your sister, and try what we can do when we come back. Just sit down and let your line hang out if you like. There will be no harm in doing that, though the fish may not be the worse for it.”
As Sandy began to move his oars, Norman was obliged to do as he was told. He looked very sulky and angry however, and would not even answer Fanny when she spoke to him.
At last they reached the end of the loch. Here the mountain appeared to be cloven in two—a narrow channel running at the bottom of the gorge and uniting Loch Tulloch to another larger loch beyond. Fanny was delighted, especially when Sandy poling the boat along proceeded onwards till the loch and bright sunshine being left behind, they found themselves in the gloom of the narrow gorge with lofty cliffs arching overhead, so that when they looked up, all they could see was a narrow strip of blue sky above them.
“We cannot go further,” said Sandy, “for some big rocks stop the passage, or I would take you a row through a larger loch than our ain. If you stand up you can just see its blue waters shining brightly at the head of the gorge.”