134 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



than once of the fun to be got from an all-night fishing, 

 and, finding that I was not much moved by recitals 

 of this wonderful sport (I had been through it many 

 times before), they turned their attention to the 

 younger members of the party, and so infected them 

 with thoughts of monster conger, skate, and ling, that 

 at last I was drawn into another experience of it. 



Squid is the most toothsome morsel that can be 

 offered to the conger, and its ivory whiteness is so 

 attractive that it is quicker than any other bait in 

 bringing sport; so squid were caught in the gloaming 

 of the night before; and, let me tell you, it may well 

 happen that the catching of this bait will give more 

 fun to youth than the longest and most successful night 

 with conger. 



We got a store of these octopus-hke fish and started 

 early in the afternoon for the Lizard, with mackerel 

 spinners out, in the hope of supplementing them with 

 the next best lure for deep-water fishing in the night. 

 These we got in mmibers, so, when we had anchored, 

 a mile and a half from off the Lizard, our only need 

 was semi-darkness, during which the fish we were 

 after are almost sure to feed. 



There was a roll when the boat held, but, fortunately, 

 not sufficient to upset the most sensitive among us, 

 so all were read}^ when the fun commenced, if fun it be 

 to haul up, hand over hand, from fully thirty fathoms, 

 even the most wondrous fish, upon a line that has at 

 its end a twelve-pound weight of lead, which is barely 

 sufficient to keep the bottom when the Channel tide 

 is running. 



As the da}^ was closing in, lamps were lighted to 

 warn passing ships, and soon after that a fisher new 

 to hand-lines commenced to haul with a sportsman's 

 ^est at what proved to be a conger of twenty, pounds. 



^^'hen the summer night's darkness came upon 

 us several youngsters' tongues were wagging about 

 their hopes of what they were hauling at, and one 



