The Wit of the Wild 



r 



mense, but when it is saturated with cold sea- 

 water, and held back by the pushing of thousands 

 of energetic little noses, to pull it into a rocking 

 boat, implies very hard work. However, little by 

 little it came over the gunwales, the first thing 

 being to bring up the ponderous sinker and as- 

 certain that the closing of the purse at the bot- 

 tom had been properly executed. Yard by yard 

 the cork line was contracted, and one after an- 

 other frightened captives began to appear, some 

 folded into a wrinkle of the twine, or caught by 

 the gills in a torn mesh (and such were thrown 

 back), until at last the bag was reduced to only 

 a few yards in diameter, and the menhaden were 

 seen, a sheeny, gray, struggling mass, which 

 bellied out the net under the cork line and under 

 the boats, in vain anxiety to pass the curious bar- 

 rier which on every side hemmed them in, and in 

 leaping efforts to escape the crowding of their 

 thronging fellows. How they gleamed, like fish 

 of jewels and gold ! The sunshine finding its way 

 down through the clear green water seemed not 

 to reflect from their iridescent scales, but to pene- 

 trate them all, and illumine their bodies from 



^276 



