172 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



a finger-bowl, and the appetising meal was washed down 

 with water from a barrel and some ruby red vino pasto 

 wine fit for the gods. . . . Ah, well, better luck next time, 

 we were saying, as we were about to haul in our line, when 

 the tug came, a most tremendous tug ! 



We are fast in a tunny at last ! and a pulley-haul fight 

 begins what a weight it is ! You feel as if you were pulling 

 up the bottom of the ocean for a second, and then that it is 

 pulling you, willy-nilly, into its depths, therefore you let go 

 line, and jam it down on the gunwale to check it, and it runs, 

 squeaking, out, cutting a groove in the wood. I cannot tell 

 you how much stout line went out there were many lines 

 the thickness of flag halyards of thirty fathoms each, attached 

 to each other but the whole stern of the boat seemed filled 

 with wet coiled-down line when we had been pulling in for 

 a few minutes, and then, in a minute, it was almost gone, 

 and then wearisomely two of us pulled it in again, hand over 

 hand, with much gasping and tugging, more and more line 

 is coiled up in our stern sheet, but still no sign of the fish. 

 As the fight pull devil, pull baker proceeded another man 

 managed to pull in the other lines all in a heap, and we were 

 able to devote our united attention to the fish. It seemed 

 strong as a horse and took us practically all in charge, and we 

 had to be nimble to let the whizzing loops of hard line get 

 away clear of our feet and wrists. We were pretty well 

 blown, cut and sore, by the time its efforts lessened. Then 

 we got in coil after coil, six coils in hand then lost two, then 

 eight and lost one, then set teeth and pulled steadily with 

 both hands between times, and at last and at length, the 

 silver glitter we expected showed deep down in the blue. 

 Even then there were many more coils to bring in ; the water 

 being so intensely clear, the enormous mackerel showed many 

 fathoms down, swinging round and round. . . . The latter 

 part of the fray needed instantaneous photography to depict 

 it what with the tunny pulling and our weight all leaning 

 to one side to get the line in, and then to gaff the fish, and the 

 roll of the sea combined, too many things happened at one 

 time to be very clearly remembered afterwards. We had 

 two gaffs huge affairs and as the tunny dashed here 



