Carn Mo'r

Chapter 18

I couldn't stop myself grinning at the sight of the Doctor as he made his way down to the river, guided by Black Tam. He looked rough.

'Good morning Doctor.'

'Alasdair.'

He slumped on to my small fishing stool. I reeled in and cast again. 'Do you feel how you look?'

'If I look bloody awful then that's how I feel.'

I fished out a small screw top bottle from the stream, 'here, try and drink this.' I had taken a quick detour this morning.'

'I don't think I can. Connie made me eat some breakfast and I'm not sure how long I can keep that down.'

'Trust me, special Highland recipe.'

He reluctantly accepted the bottle.

'Drink it all in one,' Black Tam advised.

He did so and was left gasping. The sparkle had already returned to his eyes. 'I feel better already. What was it?'

'Plain old natural spring water.'

'You could sell that, you know.'

'Probably.'

'I'll bet there are a lot of minerals in it.'

'I have no idea.'

'You should send some off for analysis.'

'No I don't think so. We like it just the way it is.'

He laughed. 'Maybe you're right. Sometimes it's better not to know.'

'Especially if it works, Doctor.'

'It's no wonder you made such a remarkable recovery, Alasdair. Now I think it's about time I made a contribution.' Tam took him off to a good spot and we settled down to a day's fishing.

I'd caught a good dozen or so but had put four females back in. John came in with the Doctor and Tam. He had done well, too.

'I'm sure you gave me the best beat,' he accused.

I grinned. 'They're all pretty good around here.'

'You really have a wonderful place and way of life here.'

John smiled at him, 'I did tell you that Doc.'

'Yes you did, and I believed you, that's why I'm here.'

Tam stretched out his bad leg to ease it. 'It can be a little uncomfortable in the winter for the old war wounds though.' We laughed at him.

'That is a common complaint,' the Doctor sympathized. 'Tam tells me you're losing a lot of salmon. I have to admit I didn't notice.'

'I know it doesn't seem like it to you, but we've been here all our lives and have noticed a drastic fall in their numbers. Our grandfathers once told us they were so thick you could have walked from bank to bank across their backs. Eh John?'

'I remember that.'

'So you return the females to let them spawn?'

'Yes that's right.'

'What's causing their drastic fall in numbers?'

I shrugged, 'more modern methods of fishing. Larger boats, bigger nets, over fishing lower down and at sea.'

'And poachers,' John growled.

'With nets?'

'With nets and arsenic,' John supplied. 'They throw a big net across the river. Then go up stream and pour arsenic into the river course. It kills everything for miles. Plants, fish; wipes out whole sections of the river, not just the migrating salmon.'