32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



surely, the mighty circle lessened and still 



lessened, until we found ourselves dragged to 



the very shore, and there, heaped on one 



another, we lay, a mass of helpless, struggling 



fish, gasping, flapping, choking, suffocating, 



rolling one over another, and exhausting our 



little remaining strength in futile jumps, or vain 



endeavours to hide ourselves beneath the 



doomed mass of the victims. Already the dull, 



heavy thud of the short club, used by the 



fishermen to despatch those fish that came 



readiest to hand, sounded in our ears ; already 



hope had given way to despair, and I, like the 



rest, felt with the hope the desire of life to 



perish; when a cry arose among our captors 



that the net was breaking ! Such indeed was 



the fact ; the net had been pulled somewhat 



too high upon the shore, and the vast weight 



of more than three hundred fish, aided by the 



struggles of some of the heaviest, broke the 



meshes, and in a moment we were free ! Many 



of my companions were nevertheless seized and 



killed ; but by far the greater number, myself 



included, rushed through the wide opening, and 



dashed back again to the friendly sea we had 



so lately left. What became of my companions 



