HUNGRY DOLPHINS 281 



deck ? We were all so anxious to get at 

 those dolphins, we could no longer moralize, 

 although its unwritten history did not have 

 a cheering effect. The dolphins, in great 

 numbers, could be plainly seen from the 

 deck as the tub was approached. These 

 dropped astern, and played along in the wake 

 of the vessel. She had just enough headway 

 to take the lines out from us, so that when 

 the captain on the larboard taffrail and the 

 mate on the starboard with two of us assisting 

 each of them, threw out their baited hooks, 

 they were immediately seized by those 

 ravenous fellows. I had never seen a dolphin, 

 but the captain and mate had seen hundreds, 

 and they both stated they had never seen 

 such large ones as were these. It was not 

 picking fishing by any means, for every fellow 

 rushed for his bite, and woe betide the one 

 that got it first, for he had to follow right 

 along to the taffrail, though jumping, scooting, 

 rushing, and fighting every inch of the way. 

 The quarter-deck soon presented the appear- 

 ance of a George's fisherman, dolphin flouncing 

 here, there, and everywhere. 



We had captured some wonderfully large 



