THE "WHUSTLER" 257 



shore, or even the point of the rod, I 

 could not say how far we had gone ; but 

 I felt in a general manner that we were 

 still on the eastward course. Ploughing 

 industriously on, the fish had been 

 making no undignified display of anger : 

 indeed, I had come to regard him with 

 the familiar affection in which one holds 

 a good retriever, saying to him, as occasion 

 required, " Steady, lass ! " or " To heel, 

 you devil ! " or other caressing phrases 

 of the field ; but with the progress of the 

 storm our relations became strained. He 

 began to leap. We could not see him ; 

 but we could hear him well enough amid 

 the short thick thuds of the waves beating 

 on the boat and the baritone boom of the 

 squall. It was, I confess, an alarming 

 sound. At each leap I expected the 

 performance to be my last. That seems 

 a strange remark ; but it is accurate. 

 When he was down in the water and 

 could be felt, I was not without hope ; 

 but that was momentary only. When- 

 ever the line slackened I knew he was 



17 



