202 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



and other refuse thrown off a pier, or the minute 

 wormlike creatures that live in the soft submarine 

 soil known in some parts as " ross." It is one of 

 the most uncertain and capricious of sea-fish, and, 

 as the result of the brief encounter which I am 

 about to relate, I should be inclined to regard 

 the bass as Esau to the mullet's Jacob. 



How I sought mullet at Littlehampton and 

 caught them at Leghorn, off Mogador, anywhere 

 almost except in England, has been related. The 

 manner in which this elusive fish beat me in home 

 waters until the present year was remarkable. 

 For a long time, particularly since the Devon bass 

 and a miscellany down in Cornwall offered annual 

 solace, such repeated failure did not worry me, 

 and I tacitly gave the mullet best. One night, 

 however, I took the chair at a meeting of the 

 British Sea Anglers' Society, at which Mr. T. W. 

 Gomm, undoubtedly the most scientific and suc- 

 cessful mullet fisherman on its list of members, 

 read a paper on the subject. That ruined my 

 peace of mind once and for all, and I fidgetted 

 over those Margate mullet until a few weeks ago, 

 when, during the third week of June, he begged 

 me to visit him at that town and catch a mullet. 

 It seemed too good to be true, for many attempts 

 had hitherto resulted in as many failures, but I 

 gladly accepted and went down on the day that 

 rain drew the second Australian match at Lord's. 



