142 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



imparted by amateur fishermen, learning how to 

 cozen them. The larger the bream, the more fin- 

 nicking as a rule is the way in which it nibbles, 

 and it must be remembered that a skinned, un- 

 cooked prawn is no very difficult morsel to suck 

 off the hook. 



We have been fishing nearly an hour, and my 

 Australian friends have half a dozen fish apiece. 

 So far I have looked on. Ah ! At length I have 

 something on, not an undersized one either. Out 

 goes my fine line over the gunwale, and I play 

 the fish gingerly, as we used to play large mackerel 

 in Cornwall . Foolish hints of the coming specimen 

 bream fall from my lips. My friends say nothing, 

 but think the more. He gives way at last ; I 

 haul him hand over hand, and next moment I 

 have not indeed my specimen bream in the boat, 

 but a hideous creature that I have never seen the 

 like of before, something like a gurnard out of 

 drawing. It is a " flathead," they tell me. As 

 the information was murmured as I was ducking 

 my head to get the hook out of its ugly mouth, I 

 thought the speaker said something different, 

 but took it meekly, for I felt indeed a little foolish 

 with my ' bream." The fish measured about 

 eighteen inches long and was, they assured me, 

 excellent eating. It looked like one of the faked 

 mermaids that I used to see in a well-known 

 curio store at Falmouth. Later in the afternoon. 



