HOW TO CATCH THE BLACK BASS 33 



together an elaborate rod and reel, immediately objected that 

 I was not giving him a fair opportunity; so I landed one 

 more, making four, and helped him to arrange his rod and 

 line, baited his hook, and agreed to land his fish. 



He then wanted to exchange places with me in the dinghy, 

 and in doing so the boom swung around, knocked the pail 

 of minnows overboard, and we nearly capsized the boat. 



Whether the shoal of bass were frightened by the noise, 

 or had a free meal of minnows, sufficient to satisfy them, I 

 do not know. We caught no more fish there. 



Soon my friend became impatient and insisted that we 

 go further out. 



I agreed to this, but the wind had now dropped and 

 some rowing had to be done. 



It had been previously arranged, owing to my objection 

 to the dinghy, that in case there happened to be no wind my 

 friend would do all the rowing; but somehow or other the 

 lot now fell to me. 



So I rowed about a mile further out, and we anchored 

 again, in a shallow spot, where there was a heavy undertow 

 and consequently a heavy strain on our anchor rope. 



Here we fished ten or fifteen minutes without getting a 

 nibble; and, as the wind began to blow fresh again and the 

 dinghy was pounding up and down, we decided to sail to the 

 nearest reef and have lunch. 



Being in the bow of the boat, I was busily engaged in 

 hauling up the sail, when suddenly the anchor rope parted 

 and threw the boom up against the stern of the boat, knocked 

 down the pail of frogs, which began scrambling all over the 

 bottom boards; and we shipped about a barrel of water. 



However, we gradually got under way, and I occupied 

 the next ten minutes in bailing out water and trying to catch 

 the frogs, most of which had secreted themselves in various 

 crevices of the flooring, and defied capture. 



Lunch, however, made things assume a different aspect. 



