FISHING "DOWN OUTSIDE" 175 



The cod and the flounders, cunners and pol- 

 lock will make up the bulk of your catch as you 

 drift along these under-sea moraines, though 

 now and then a freak may come to your hook in 

 the shape of a dogfish or a skate. These are to 

 be looked for and welcomed. Once the horse 

 mackerel struck into Massachusetts Bay. These 

 weigh a thousand pounds apiece and take live fish 

 of considerable size on the fly. In those days a 

 deep-sea fisherman, hauling in a respectable cod, 

 was likely to find adventure enough with the situ- 

 ation suddenly reversed and a horse mackerel 

 hauling in the line with the fisherman on the end 

 of it. 



It is leviathans of the deep like these that Jason 

 Theseus and their companion Greeks bear in 

 mind as the Argo drifts and the catch steadily 

 grows. By and by the low sun flares red through 

 surly clouds of nightfall. The sea is getting up 

 and it is a long sail up the coast to the lee of the 

 outer light. Then with darkness gathering and 

 a head wind and tide the real glory of the day 

 comes. Out of the black west blows half a gale. 

 The waves curl in ghostly phosphorescence and 

 the merry men dance wildly in Hull Gut. It is 

 a long and dogged fight to win through these 



