160 Sporting Sketches 



The fish were blackfish. They weighed about 

 half a pound each, and I subsequently found that 

 they were excellent for the table. They had small, 

 sheeplike mouths with prominent teeth, which they 

 presumably use for crushing small shellfish. An 

 abundance of such food no doubt attracted the black- 

 fish to the wreck. There must have been hundreds 

 of them below us, for we had lively sport for a couple 

 of hours. 



An occasional tidy sea-bass afforded variety to the 

 proceedings, and other things, neither so tidy nor so 

 acceptable, took the hooks. Small crabs hung to 

 the baits until they reached the surface, then usually 

 let go their holds and sidled to the glooms. Now 

 and then a piece of sharp work secured one of 

 them. 



The first big spider-crab, ahideous-looking varmint, 

 was captured by Harry. At first it looked like a 

 bundle of roots or a mess of the drowned Italians' 

 spaghetti. Harry landed it between his feet, took 

 one glance, then climbed the deck-house. When the 

 spider got upon its feet and began to move about, 

 Harry muttered, " Jerusalem ! what hands he could 

 hold and how he could manipulate pasteboards." 

 Harry, however, would fish no more, vowing " that 

 he didn't want to catch any more things like that in 

 his draw." 



Skates, too, came up at intervals. The first one 

 captured was taken charge of by the crew, who 

 promptly demanded a pocket-flask. He freed the 

 skate from the hook, turned it upon its back, then 

 calmly poured a few drops of whiskey into the con- 

 vulsively working mouth. In a few moments he 



