70 WHAT I HAVE SEEN WHILE FISHING 



held it there. Billy was patient, very patient, as 

 if he would like him just to clear the bottle out ; 

 but, at the critical moment, his heroism deserted 

 him, and he fairly leaped on Pat as he exclaimed, 

 " It's divil a taste you'll be laving me/' 



Our men, being refreshed, made another effort 

 to get round the point, and, to assist them, we kept 

 our lines out until they were round and out of 

 the greatest sweep of water. Then I got them to 

 hold the boat steady while we paid our lines back 

 towards the point from which we had taken so 

 many fish. 



We spent a profitable half-hour in this way, and 

 Boyle was quick to note the advantages it contained 

 for one who sometimes wanted to go pollacking 

 and had no one to row for him. He could anchor 

 his boat in any flow of water that was sufficiently 

 heavy to carry his bait to the desired spot and 

 there keep it spinning. 



Even in a well-manned boat an hour of this 

 method of fishing is a great rest ; indeed, on more 

 than one occasion my men have lunched while so 

 anchored, and I have lunched and fished ; lunched 

 with fishy fingers, filled my pipe with ditto, smoked 

 and been happy. 



Already our boat was too full of fish to think 

 of laying out our luncheon, which had been put 

 up with the view of entertaining a guest ; so, for 

 that reason and because we were wolfishly hungry, 

 we landed on a rock that is in the centre of a 



