359 



cover him. When he first came to the 

 ocean he was hardly as long as your hand, 

 and would weigh perhaps three ounces. In ■< 



a month he was a strong, shapely fish, a foot sjL^S^Coi)" 

 long and weighing over a pound ; and his 

 appetite, instead of diminishing, only grew 

 more and more voracious as he increased in 

 weight. No more Crustacea or codlings for 

 him now ; he had himself joined the bandits 

 that had at first frightened him, and was too 

 big to be satisfied with such small fry. But 

 when the shoals of brilliant caplin passed 

 over him, making the sea look as if a rain- 

 bow had broken into bits and fallen there, 

 his silver sides were seen flashing in and 

 out among them. And then, as he grew 

 bigger and the caplin passed on shoreward 

 with the tides, the herring came drifting in, 

 like great silver clouds, with the sea-birds 

 screaming over them ; and these were the 

 best food of all. 



So three months passed in the ocean and 

 our little smolt had now become a grilse, or 

 "gilsie," a beautiful fish of four pounds weight, 

 with his silver sides spotted like a trout; 



