AND HOW I HAVE CAUGHT MY FISH 263 



jumped up to peer over his mate's shoulder, in 

 doing which he dropped his paddle. 



At last we are off again, and I am directing my 

 men to keep well out at the point we are nearing, 

 as it is rather shallow there. 



Just then one of the rods shook, the stone that 

 was on the line fell down, and the winch began 

 paying in answer to a fish that was leaping at the 

 end of seventy yards of line. I would give almost 

 anything for a snapshot of the faces of those two 

 men as they heard the commotion and saw the fish 

 leap. Their eyes and tongues were almost on their 

 faces, and so they sat and stared until I thought of 

 the other rod, which should, long before, have been 

 wound in. 



After landing the fish 23 Ib. I gave the order 

 to go back over the same ground, as my men might 

 like, I thought, to speak to MacColl. This soon 

 brought us near the other boat, which was trying 

 round a fish which had risen. My friend told me 

 this, and suggested, with a laugh, that I should give 

 it a turn and then land for lunch. We proceeded 

 to execute this manoeuvre, which consists in bring- 

 ing your baits over the fish without the boat's 

 passing too near. 



I had told my men not to speak just yet of our 

 having a fish, but this did not prevent their getting 

 from MacColl the fact that our rivals were still 

 fishless. 



Now this was unfortunate, for it caused my crew 



