380 



THE STING-EAT. 



with great rapidity and the reel to whiz like, lightning. With 

 a design to cheek the progress of this unknown monster, a 

 pressure of the thumb on the line resulted in taking the skin 

 from that digit in not the most scientific manner. About 

 three-quarters of the line was run out, when lo ! he stopped. 

 " Reel him in ! reel him in ! " cried all on board. This was 

 done with the utmost dexterity, the line passing through 

 the jewelled tip and on to a stout German silver reel until 

 the nondescript was within a few feet of the boat. The cap- 

 tain of our craft, a stout ship's yawl, stood ready with the 

 gaff to haul him in, but, when within reaching-distance, he 

 broke water and passed off like a rushing wind, taking out 

 about the same amount of line, but, being held more firmly, 

 he slacked up sooner, caused by feeling the pangs of the 

 " barbed steel," and after a timid and wavering resistance 

 was again reeled in, gaffed, and taken on board, amid the 

 exultations of the angling crew. The old salt who managed 

 our boat, and knew every inch of ground in the bay and in 

 the sound, and probably every tenant of. the deep, was left 

 alone in his glory with this diamond-shaped, black-snake- 

 whip, tailed inhabitant of the sea ; the affrighted sportsmen 

 occupying the extreme bow and stern of the boat, but the 

 excitement was soon over. His Mighty Ugliness was easily 

 dispatched, his tail cut off, and his trunk, weighing about 

 forty pounds, cast to the boisterous waves. Two stings about 

 three inches long by three-sixteenths of an inch wide, with a 

 feathered edge and covered with a thin skin or slime, were 

 taken from his tail and preserved as a memento of the event. 

 After changing base several times and taking a lot of sea- 

 basse, we concluded it was not our day for sheepshead, and 

 adjourned to the city. 

 Such is the sting-ray. 



