3l6 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



Professor: "All right, I will do so. Do these oysters 

 grow in this river.?" 



Host: "Yes, sir; we get them close by the house; but 

 better ones grow in the other river." 



Professor: "What river is that.'" 



Host: "The Hillsboro' — across the Inlet, about two miles 

 south of here." 



Judge: "Mr. Pacetti, as our friend here would like to go 

 out to-day, perhaps he had better go with us, and the major 

 can go in another boat with one of your sons." 



Host: "Yes, that will do. Burt has another boat. " I 

 want to take you toward the Inlet to-day; we will fish on 

 this shore till the tide slacks, and then cross to the mouth of 

 the big creek, where there is a plenty of good fish." 



Professor: "What kind of fish.'" 



Host: "Sheep's-head, Grouper, Snapper and Bass, per- 

 haps." 



Burt: "Sharks, too, father, and Stingarees." 



Host: "No doubt; but these gentlemen from the North all 

 want big fish, you know." 



Major: "Me too; I want to catch a Shark." 



Host: "Perhaps the Shark may catch you." 



Major: "All right; I hear a great deal about Sharks, and I 

 want to see one." 



So, as arranged, we went down the river against the tide 

 in two boats. Two hundred yards below the house we 

 anchored near the bank in some fifteen feet of water; the 

 bank was about ten feet high, and covered with live oaks and 

 palmettos. One big tree was lying in the water, and near this 

 we anchored. We had a few fiddlers for bait, this being a 

 Sheep's-head ground. The professor's hooks were first 

 baited by P., who threw them into the channel. 



"Draw your line taut after the lead touches bottom, and 

 watch for a nibble," said he. 



I cast thirty feet astern. The tide was strong and took 



