A SEASIDE YARN. 39 



A SEASIDE YAEN. 



"SMASHED everything and gone, by Jove !" "Yes, 

 Major, and so they allers will, if so be as you tries on 

 that ' haul devil, pull baker ' sort of game with big 

 bass. Fishes ain't bosses by no manner of means, 

 leastways they won't be sarved as sich." Such was 

 the exclamation of my hasty fishing companion, the 

 Major, and such the stricture passed on his misfor- 

 tunes by old Bob, our boatman ; and Bob was right. 

 Fish are not " hosses," notwithstanding the laborious 

 efforts made by so many of their would-be captors to 

 treat them as if they were. Few sea-fish there are, 

 perhaps, more generally misunderstood and coarsely 

 fished for than bass, and few are there with whose 

 habits I am acquainted that feed so differently ac- 

 cording to the position and circumstances under 

 which they are placed, thus affording a wide scope 

 for the skill, ingenuity, and research of the fisher- 

 man, who shall, if he pleases, accompany me on a 

 short voyage, and peep, Asmodeus-like, at the bass 

 " taking his divarsions " in his own sea-garden, and 

 lend a hand at ensnaring Mm. 



Let us then, drift quietly away, with the flowing 



