Some Fishing Pretenses 



enters upon a series of acrobatic per- 

 formances which, during their contin- 

 uance, keep the fisherman in a state 

 of acute suspense. While he rushes 

 away from and toward and around 

 and under the boat, and while he is 

 leaping from the water and turning 

 somersaults with ugly shakes of his 

 head, in efforts to dislodge the hook, 

 there is at the other end of the outfit 

 a fisherman, tortured by the fear of 

 infirmity lurking somewhere in his 

 tackle, and wrought to the point of 

 distress by the thought of a light hook 

 hold in the fish's jaw, and its liability 

 to tear out in the struggle. If in the 

 midst of it all a sudden release of pull 

 and a straightening of his rod give 

 the signal that the bass has won the 

 battle, the vanquished angler has, after 

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