BlTTE-FISHING. 303 



" Well," exclaimed the Superintendent, who was 

 impatient over this long delay in arriving at the 

 catastrophy, "were you drowned ?" 



" No, not quite, for fortunately just as I was 

 going, and when I had given up all hope of saving 

 myself the yacht took another cant, pitched me back 

 the contrary way and brought me to my equilibrium 

 once more. Since that time I have been careful 

 how I stood on the deck of a small boat when she 

 was anchored in the ocean." 



At this moment the first result of this method 

 of fishing made his appearance, being a twelve 

 pound blue-fish, which was at that instant hooked 

 by the Commissioner. It was quite instruc- 

 tive to see how suddenly the monitor was merged 

 in the fisherman. N"o sooner had the fish struck 

 than he bounced out of the cockpit Avith the 

 alacrity of a boy of twenty. Indifferent to baths 

 or sharks, or the perils of the deep he balanced 

 himself on the narrow and unsteady deck, and 

 played his fish with the utmost skill until he had 

 safely brought him over the side. 



Chumming in the ocean does not differ from 

 chumming in the bay, except in the size of the 

 sheet of water and the consequent unsteadiness of 

 the performance. The fish are generally larger and 

 stronger, rarely running smaller than five pounds, 

 but that is all. When the fishermen had taken a 

 half dozen fish apiece they were satisfied, and 

 once more made sail on the yacht and stretched 

 away for a harbor. We ran through the rough 



