82 Fishing in North Carolina. 



head so hard I thought the man behind had, in 

 his excitement, hit me with his paddle. But as 

 we went up stream the battle increased in fero- 

 city, the bombardment of jack, bass and fliers 

 became fearful. The light I held was the centre 

 of attraction, and my face the target, and the 

 hits were too frequently made. I would forget 

 to hold the torch right and the hot pitch drop- 

 ping on my hand would hurt. But the excite- 

 ment smothered the pain. It seemed as if every 

 fish was trying to jump out of the water. They 

 jumped from everywhere towards the light 

 Some would come out from under the bank to 

 see what was up. All sizes were on the move. 

 The most of them would go clear over the boats ; 

 some would come back and over again; many 

 would drop into the boats ; and often, no sooner 

 had a big one let go at the right side of my head 

 than another would punch me on the left, as if 

 to put my head back in place. The excitement 

 worried me, and in less than half an hour we 

 had more fish than we cared to "tote" home — 

 several hundred. I soused the light in the water 

 to stop the battle of the "Wilderness," and we 



