A 



FROM THE HERRING POND 



23 



watched the stronger grew the convic- 

 tion that the rollers knew what they 

 were talking about, so after making up 

 my mind that a swim across was really 

 out of the question, I cast about to dis- 

 cover how to best plague this defiant, 

 mocking, corned-beef-hash flavored ad- 

 versary. 



For the first attack, I waited till the 

 sea was roaring mad over something. 

 Then I went at him, head first. For 

 half an hour we had it up and down, 

 then he flung me away up the bank and 

 sat me down so hard on the sand that 

 for some time I measured about an 

 inch short of the average. But in a 

 few days came wisdom on my part 

 and a better understanding upon both 

 sides, and then the old sea grew 

 kind, and would playfully rock and 

 softly sweep me hither and yon 

 for one hour at a stretch. All this had 

 something to do with the fishing, 

 for a certain grizzly old beach-comber 

 had watched my daily play with the 

 waves until he grew interested. 

 "Say, havin' a good time ain't ye? 

 Wha' 'n thunder'd ye learn to swim, 

 anyhow? What! L-a-k-e-s? Wa'al 

 I'll be dummed ! Didn't think no lake 

 on God's hull earth was fit fur nothin' 

 like that!" 



He proved a bully old sport, too, 

 and after I had told him a lot about the 

 lakes, their sailing and fishing, we be- 

 came quite chummy. One day he re- 

 marked : "Say, if ye can handle a 

 ' boat half as well as ye can swim, I 

 wouldn't mind takin' ye out enny day 

 ye say. My mate's been sorta laid up 

 fur a week, and my boat's loafin' in 

 yonder earnin' nary a cent." 



The upshot of the matter was that 

 we agreed to start at gray dawn the 

 following morning — he to furnish boat 

 and such tackle as was aboard, while I 

 provided grub and such of my own 

 gear as I chose to take along. A few 

 questions elicited from the proprietor 

 of the quaint little hostelry the infor- 

 mation that I had run foul of a rare 

 good, but very peculiar, man who 

 owned the best of the larger craft of the 



inlet. Somewhat to my astonishment 

 I found the boat had once been an old- 

 time racing single-sticker, which in her 

 day, had led her class through many a 

 lively bout. Her rig had been cut 

 down a bit, but the good lines of the 

 old hull were there — in fact, the craft 

 was the very thing in the way of a 

 handy sloop for all sorts of weather. 



"We've got to go through that tha' 

 trussle ; how 'bout ye takin' holt for 

 a spell ? She'll pint wherever ye ask 

 her in this breeze" ; there was a 

 twinkle in his eye which might or might 

 not have meant mischief. I "tuk a holt" 

 and in very few moments learned that 

 she was all right. The draw was 

 mighty narrow, but I managed to get 

 through without scrapin'. 



"Good for ye ! Send her along — 

 plenty of water ennywheres now," he 

 chuckled, and presently she was heel- 

 ing to it and flying for the open sea. 

 So far as I could tell, we had the entire 

 Atlantic to ourselves, and getting the 

 course from the skipper, I let her boom 

 along until further orders. 



"Tha's bin a few blues ketched'out 

 yonder," he remarked, "but it's most 

 too early yet. We'll anchor after a bit 

 and use these," jerking his thumb to- 

 ward a box of tackle. "Then we'll try 

 for a tide runner." 



"The bluefish, I knew, were addicted to 

 a murderous prowling along the coast 

 from about mid-summer till the first of 

 the cool weather, and I was keen to 

 get fast to one of the hard fighting 

 bravos, of which I had heard so 

 much. So far as sporting qualities go, 

 the blue fish is the best of available 

 fishes, but for some reason he seems 

 to be losing ground, or water, or what ■ 

 ever is the right term, and season after 

 season becomes more scarce. Be it un- 

 derstood that when I term him the best 

 sporting fish, only our present method 

 is meant, as every salt water bass fisher 

 will readily understand. Our possible; 

 victims included no purely game fish, 

 except the blue. Outside, we had black 

 fish, porgies, dinners, sea-robins and 

 blowfish ? while inside, there were weak 



