FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 221 



Island turtle schooner lying in the bay, I managed 

 to locate and catch a small barracouta lying under 

 the vessel, the bait being a " piper," i.e. the gar- 

 fish with the long upper jaw (Belone). The 

 piper was caught from the boat by a coloured boy 

 named " Dickie," tout court, who owns a couple of 

 handy small boats and knows all that need be 

 remembered about the local fishing. A dollar or 

 two spent with " Dickie," is an education in small 

 fishing, and I gladly took it at the price. In order 

 to catch the bait, no easy matter, he used a single 

 small hook at the end of a very long line of sewing-^ 

 cotton (perhaps No. 40, if I dare guess at it), and 

 baited it with a fragment of dry bread. Less than 

 a yard above the hook was a tiny cork to serve 

 as a float. How he managed, on a day without a 

 breath of wind to stir the glassy surface of the bay, 

 to fling the hook at least thirty yards, or how, 

 after letting it drift with the tide at least another 

 thirty, he contrived to see the least movement of 

 so small a tell-tale, I do not pretend to say. I 

 merely record the fact that he did both, and, as the 

 result, was not many minutes before he hauled in a 

 fine piper. This was hooked through the tail on a 

 stout line with a large hook and no lead, and the 

 lure was then paid out until it swam in front of the 

 dark form lurking under the keel in perhaps six or 

 eight fathoms. It did not dangle long before there 

 was a rush and a tightening of the line. On a rod 

 the barracouta would have given good sport, but I 

 do not know that it would be possible to use a rod 

 while bending over to control the movements of 

 the bait with the aid of the water-telescope, which 

 floats on the surface. Few large fish can resist any 



