The Yellowtail 135 
Men, women, and children were seized with that 
mad contagion, the desire to fish, and hurried to 
the beach with lines which were cast with shouts 
and laughter, and in a short time the shore was 
a beating, leaping mass of yellow, green, and 
turquoise. Then the excitement grew fiercer. 
The man with the rod determined to be a sports- 
man under all circumstances, and cast over the 
hand-lines._ The fish of one angler ran around 
the lines of both and into the field of a third, 
and in a moment the line of fishermen and 
fisherwomen were engaged in a war of words. 
Every available boat was soon rowing about the 
bay in every direction, many of which would have 
one or two fishes on at the same time, presenting 
a most animated spectacle. 
The feature of this unusual and remarkable 
scene, which found its prototype in the “jack 
beat ” of a following chapter, which impressed me 
most, was the strength and game qualities of this 
particular school of yellowtails. Nine-tenths of 
the people were fishing with hand-lines, and so 
numerous were the boats on the little bay that 
it seemed impossible to use rods. The lines 
were of the codfish variety, ropes more or less, 
yet I doubt if a single member of this fishing 
