86 MOOSE-HUNTING, SALMON-FISHING, ETC 



was then taking us, nothing short of a collision 

 with one or more of the boats would follow, 

 and the most of them were half loaded with 

 herrings. 



The way those fellows were shouting was 

 as if Pandemonium were let loose, and tended 

 somewhat to disconcert us. The nearer we 

 approached them, the greater the peril seemed 

 of sinking by contact one or both of our boats, 

 so I jumped with my knife to free him, but 

 in the rush to do so my foot slipped, and I 

 went headlong on top of my mate, and my 

 knife flew out of my hand confusion worse 

 confounded. Before we could disengage our- 

 selves, the boats came together with a heavy 

 crash, filling the other's and washing a lot of 

 their herrings overboard. This additional drag 

 caused the albacore to spring again, when, to 

 save ourselves from being all thrown overboard, 

 one of the men cut the line. The first salute 

 we poor fellows got was, "You d d fools ! " 

 followed by language not altogether classical 

 English, nor yet pure Anglo-Saxon, having a 

 large percentage of the swear element in it. 

 After their first ebullition was over, we got 

 into a hearty laugh over the ridiculousness of 



