The Wit of the Wild 



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I half expected he would disappear altogether; 

 and so, amid the roar of escaping steam, the 

 creaking of davit tackle, the laughing excitement 

 of the crews, and the rattle of rowlocks, I tumbled 

 head-foremost into a boat, and the steamer was 

 left behind. Now the flirting of tiny tails was 

 plainly visible, but I must confess that I did not 

 learn to distinguish the reddish hue which indi- 

 cates a school of these fish until much later in 

 the day. 



The two large boats side by side were sculled 

 rapidly toward the shore where the fish were seen, 

 the forward part of each boat piled full of the 

 brown seine, which extended in a great festoon 

 from one to the other. There were four men in 

 each boat, all standing up, and in our red shirts 

 and shiny yellow oilskin overalls, we must have 

 made a pretty picture on that sunny morning. 

 Close by was a pound net, where a porpoise was 

 rolling gayly, notwithstanding his captivity, but 

 by maneuvering we got the "bunch" turned 

 away from it and well inshore where the water 

 was not too deep. At last we were close to them, 

 and now came a scene of excitement. 

 274 &o 



