CHAPTER VI 



FLOUNDERS ARE WONDERFUL 



WHAT first set me thinking of flounders and 

 phrases was a remark made when filet de sole 

 came on the table. 



" Here is brain food and a dainty." 



Big with conceit and the smugness of a purist 

 after many recent hours with Crabb, I gave the 

 kind of answer which only deep friendship can with- 

 stand. 



" Brain food perhaps, but not a dainty; only a 

 delicacy." 



" Well then, I suppose filet de sole is not sus- 

 tenance! " 



" Decidedly not, for you are paying for it; but I 

 must admit it is nourishing and wholesome." 



Came the reply, — "Bight-ho! Bollo and Eric 

 will now begin to dispatch their aliment, with per- 

 chance a pasty, until some ailment does them incon- 

 venience." 



I thought it better at this point to change the 

 subject. 



Months later, when a fairy flounder came up in 

 one of my nets from the chill and blackness of a mile 

 down, I exclaimed, 



" What a miracle, this little chap! " 



94 



