Favorite Fish and Fishing 



occasionally abandon the beach where cov- 

 ered with water, and take to the scrub, 

 much to the evident fear of the negro, who, 

 I soon discovered, was very timid and 

 superstitious. He started at every sound 

 In the still night — the puffing of a porpoise 

 in the water or a 'coon or 'possum scurry- 

 ing through the thick scrub or the weird cry 

 of a night bird caused him to blench with 

 evident fear and trembling. At the leap 

 of a large fish, a tarpon or jewfish, that 

 struck the water with a resounding splash, 

 he whispered : 



** Doctah, was dat a debblefish? " 

 " It might have been," I replied. 

 Voices of the Just then a bull alligator in the bayou 



^^ ^ back of the beach emitted a terrible roar, 



followed by the discordant cries of all sorts 

 of waterfowl; and, as it happened, some 

 large animal, a horse or cow, or perhaps a 

 deer, fled at our approach and crashed 

 through the scrub. Altogether the various 

 sounds were somewhat appalling, and cal- 

 culated to alarm and distress a more coura- 

 geous person. At last we reached the pass, 



176 



