WITH BASQUES AND MOORS 173 



bridge sheer down in the water, saw the dark form 

 of something larger, but on no occasion contrived 

 to tempt one. Indeed, the only time the interest 

 was varied was when an occasional water-tortoise 

 seized the hook, sailed with a peculiar twitching 

 action, probably due to the wriggling of its head, 

 across the pool and then bit through the gut. I 

 had no gut capable of holding these reptiles, nor 

 indeed was I particularly anxious to retain them. 

 The jaws that could bite through fairly stout gut 

 as if it were cotton did not invite liberties. It 

 cannot be said that this morning fishing in the 

 Tensift was of an exciting order. Rather as the 

 excuse for a somewhat longer ride than merely 

 out to the great tank or the parade-ground did it 

 commend itself. I can even now recall the scene 

 in all its details. The horses fidgetting fifty yard? 

 off ; myself huddled close to the bridge, so as to 

 stand in the shadow of the masonry ; and Said, 

 the picture, as indeed he was otherwise the pre- 

 sentment, of as complete an idiot as any servant 

 I ever had, leaning half over the parapet, gaping 

 whenever the float went under, grinning as each 

 fish came flashing through the air. 



The last fish with which, as a parting gift, 

 Morocco presented me, were a brace of grey mullet, 

 which I caught in five minutes fishing over the 

 ship's side at Mogador. I had ridden in from the 

 interior only the night before, and the Orotava 



