24 MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 



night with a bushel of eels, weighing from nothing up to 

 two pounds or more, for the larger eels are not so easily 

 captured in this way, their weight tearing them loose in 

 the air. 



The night was clear and starlit; bats circled about 

 picking up insects here and there. Billy told me that 

 they could be caught if I threw up my cap and said, "Bat, 

 bat, come into my hat and I'll give you a pound of 

 cheese." There was no room in the boat to do this, but 

 I tried it afterward and didn't get any bats. A large bird 

 flew just over our heads with slow and noiseless flaps, and 

 Billy said something in Dutch. "What was that?" I 

 asked. "They're bad, them things that fly at night a- 

 making no noise, an' I doan' like 'em," and he took a little 

 medicine for his lungs. The moon, a few days past the 

 full, came up slowly just south of the spook-house barn, 

 and Billy said if a bat flew across its face I must say : 



"Hookum skookum, 

 Rollicum kookum, 



Holliche Bolliche, 

 Baniche spookum." 



"Ef you don't," said he, "you'll go blind on the side 

 next the moon." No bat crossed the moon that night to 

 my knowledge, nor do I ever remember seeing one cross 

 it; but the charm has been remembered and held in re- 

 serve should such a thing happen, for no man cares to 

 lose an eye when it can be so easily avoided by simply 

 following the directions of a man so skilled in spook lore 

 as Billy Bishop. 



This night we had fair success, and when Billy put me 

 ashore he saw me safely home, only a few doors below, 

 and said that he would send us up a lot of dressed eels for 

 breakfast; and he did. During the fishing Billy faithfully 



