1 86 



RECREATION. 



there are poorer pan fish than a half pound 

 perch. Another great rush of leaping mul- 

 let, and I east right in the middle of the 

 swirl ; then the rod bent almost double and 

 the reel sang its merry song. A great leap 

 from the water, a rush, and then with 

 slow, careful work I brought to the boat 

 a fair sized bass. Another cast. That 

 time, just along the edge of the flat where 

 the tide swirled. The bait hardly had time 

 to touch the water, before the rod surged 

 and bent. Confound the fish ! Would he 

 never stop? Sixty, 80 yards of line he 

 took before the reel stopped. Was he off? 

 No; for with a "zimp" the line tightened, 

 as he headed in another direction, this time 

 against the tide. Ten minutes of work, 

 and then he slowly surrendered, and I lifted 

 a 5-pound bass aboard. 



From across the 'fore I heard the Doc- 

 tor's voice: "There! that is a bass sure! 

 Now I'll show you how to land him.." 



Then came a noise of splashing and 

 slapping, and a yell of laughter from the 

 Engineer as the Doctor pulled up a great 

 silver-sided eel. 



The Engineer landed a fish, and pres- 

 ently I heard the Doctor say : "Confound 

 it, there is another pesky eel. Get your 

 nippers ready and I'll yank him out and — " 



Another roar from the Engineer, and the 

 Doctor exclaimed: "Well, if that ain't 

 the biggest fool bass I ever saw. He bit 

 just like an eel." 



And so the fun went on for half an 



hour until we had 5 bass and a col- 

 lection of perch, eels and goodies, 

 and it was time to go aboard. The wind 

 came in stiffly from the Southeast, and 

 great banks of fog shut out the stars. 

 Out in the channel we heard the flood tide 

 roaring, and knew it would be a nasty 

 pull back to the yacht. 



Out across the flats we rowed; there 

 was plenty of water everywhere. As we 

 pushed through the short grass, zig zag 

 lines of phosphorent fire marked the flight 

 of eels and fish, alarmed by the boat. Over 

 the flats and out in the channel darkness 

 was everywhere save as we caught the 

 flash from the lighthouse that gave us 

 our bearings,. Our boat jumped and 

 plunged in the raging water and the spray 

 drenched us to the skin. At length we 

 could make out the yacht ; it put new vigor 

 in us and we were soon aboard. 



John and Billy came in about the same 

 time, but their's had been miserable luck, 

 a regular water haul. 



Bart, the cook, had a hot supper waiting 

 for us, and throwing off our wet clothing 

 and rubber boots, we gathered around the 

 table in the genial warmth of the cabin. 



Then we turned in, lulled by the rocking 

 of the yacht and the music of the wind in 

 the rigging, to sleep the sleep of tired 

 anglers. Just as we were slipping off 

 the flats into the "deep water of dreamland 

 the Doctor muttered, "You can't fool the 

 boss on a bass bite." 



FROM PAINTING BY W. L. STEWARD. 



LAND-LOCKED SALMON. 



