152 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



the announcement that the tide was changing and 

 that our fun must end. 



The captain and the mate had spoken to me 

 more than once of the fun to be got from an all- 

 night fishing, and, finding that I was not much 

 moved by recitals of this wonderful sport (I had 

 been through it many times before), they turned 

 their attention to the younger members of the 

 party, and so infected them with thoughts of 

 monster conger, skate and ling, that at last I was 

 drawn into another experience of it. 



Squid is the most toothsome morsel that can be 

 offered to the conger and its ivory whiteness is so 

 attractive that it is quicker than any other bait in 

 bringing sport ; so squid were caught in the gloam- 

 ing of the night before ; and, let me tell you, it 

 may well happen that the catching of this bait will 

 give more fun to youth than the longest and most 

 successful night with conger. 



We got a store of these octopus-like fish and 

 started early in the afternoon for the Lizard, with 

 mackerel spinners out, in the hope of supplement- 

 ing them with the next best lure for deep-water 

 fishing in the night. These we got in numbers, so, 

 when we had anchored, a mile and a half from off 

 the Lizard, our only need was semi-darkness during 

 which the fish we were after are almost sure to 

 feed. 



There was a roll when the boat held but, fortun- 

 ately, not sufficient to upset the most sensitive 

 among us, so all were ready when the fun com- 

 menced, if fun it be to haul up, hand over hand, 

 from fully thirty fathoms, even the most wondrous 

 fish, upon a line that has at its end a twelve-pound 



