A FORLORN QUEST, ETC. 223 



lights with fatal results, and in such a mood, and 

 in the most comfortable armchair in the smoking 

 room of the Sports Club, that Field article caught 

 me on the morning of its publication. I was 

 due at a matinee that afternoon, during the whole 

 performance of which the spectres of gigantic 

 tunny floated between me and the stage. Back 

 to the club I went and wrote to Messrs. Donald 

 Currie, to Colonel Stead, and to one who is with- 

 out doubt the greatest living authority on tuna 

 fishing, Mr. C. F. Holder, whose work on the big 

 game of the sea is one of the most thrilling pieces 

 of angling literature in print. After some little 

 change in my plans, I was booked to go out in 

 the Armadale Castle leaving Southampton on 

 April 15th, and I can confidently say that scarcely 

 a day of the remaining three months passed 

 without my worrying someone fresh. One cor- 

 respondent got more than his fair share. In an 

 unhappy moment for him, I was furnished with 

 a letter of introduction to Mr. Maurice Faber, 

 an old resident in Funchal, and to him I believe 

 I wrote three letters each mail until the date of 

 sailing. He read and answered my letters with 

 a patience that was more than human, and he 

 engaged for me the best skipper and crew that 

 could be found in the place. The terms, pro- 

 posed by myself, were \ a day, with a bonus of 

 10s. for every fish of 100 Ibs. or more, the men to 



