THE BASSES: FRES H w ATER AND MARINE 



where the current was comparatively sluggish. 

 Once there he seesawed from right to left, and 

 left to right, for several minutes, until at last, 

 struck, or rather inspired, for it was inspiration, 

 intellect, anything but instinct, by that last life- 

 saving idea which I have seen exercised only by two- 

 pounders and upward, my bass went down - 



" And sulked," put in Gills. 



"Sulked!" cried the Doctor. "Not he; there 

 was no sulk in him. Down he went until I felt that 

 he had got to bed-rock. Then commenced a series 

 of tugs or jerks, not angry ones, but regular 

 in time and method, each successive one getting a 

 little stronger than the last. It seemed to me that 

 he had found a hole just big enough for his body 

 between two stones, and that he had, braced himself 

 with his pectoral fins to bear upon the light gear. 

 At first I simply held him taut; then, fearing 

 for my tackle, I let up on him at each tug; but 

 this method,, I at last felt, would be a losing game 

 for me, as the jerks grew in strength with an 

 arithmetical progression that alarmed me. Some- 

 thing would give way, I was sure, if I did not 

 bring matters to a focus at once, and I brought 

 them. Putting a sturdy pull upon the fish, as ob- 

 stinate in its strain as he was in his tugs, I reeled 

 in, inch by inch, until I actually dragged him from 

 his lair; but unfortunately it was a poor day for 

 dragging, for, with a vigorous flirt of his tail and 



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