OLLA PODRIDA 265 



steady pull the line began to come in with some- 

 thing heavy dragging at the end. As it made no 

 struggle it could hardly be a fish, and sunken logs 

 and sticks are not frequent in tide-water. Slowly 

 the catch was drawn in until the wondering fish- 

 erman could see a jug, brown but not very little, 

 into the handle of which his hook had caught. 

 The wonder was that an empty, corked jug should 

 sink. When it was discovered that a strong cord 

 anchored the jug to one of the timbers of the pier, 

 a suspicion was created that this jug had been 

 caught previously. A somewhat hasty and incom- 

 plete examination established relationship between 

 the jug and the Maine prohibition law, but not 

 between the jug and its owner. Can any other 

 fisherman boast of catching the "spirits of the 

 vasty deep " ? 



Perhaps the Deacon had an experience as ex- 

 citing, if not as satisfactory, as that ever allotted to 

 any fisherman. He and his son and the Preacher 

 were fishing on Big St. Germain. The hotel was 

 provided with a porch which ran along the en- 

 tire front. As the party came in from an after- 

 noon with the pike, the rods were placed against 

 this porch, butts on the ground and tips projecting 

 above the porch roof. The Preacher was the first 

 to finish his supper, and as he came out the front 

 door a peculiar combination of sounds was heard. 

 Spitting, snarling, scratching were mingled with 

 the clicking of a reel. It was the Deacon's reel 



