rned fish
was off, and that he had been predicting such a result all along; the
fact was the 'lunge was racing in towards us. I am one of those
anglers who hate being pestered by advice when playing a fish, and
never pretend to choose my words to the interrupter.

Moreover, Ben had continued pulling, so that, besides the wind behind
us and the weight of the fish, whatever it was, against me, I had the
way of the boat to assist the enemy; furthermore, he announced his
intention of pulling ashore, as he was in the habit of doing with the
hand-line operation, and the nearest land was not a yard less than a
mile off. Then I opened my mouth and spake with my tongue, and Ben,
finding that I could shout bad language as well as he, proved himself
after all a fine fellow amenable to orders, and a veritable sport when
once he comprehended that here was a fish that must be humoured and not
lugged in by brute force. He not only ceased rowing, but quickly
tumbled to the trick in other respects. He backed water, and, shortly,
was most intelligently taking care that the canoe should follow the
fish. We all knew it was worth catching, and from its appearance
during its flashing somersault in the air I had estimated it at about
15 lb.

It was a new experience to play a lively fish of respectable
dimensions, sitting low and cramped, and fearing to move, in a
cockle-shell canoe. If one could have stood up square and fair to the
fight the course would have been clear; it would have been something to
have knelt, but there was no opportunity for even that modest sort of
compromise. And the fish did fight most gamely; certainly, too, with
the odds immensely in its favour. Wrist, arms, shoulders, back, and
legs of the angler were strained and pained by the efforts necessary to
keep the taut line free of the boat, but A. ducked his head deftly once
when the fish shot to the left of me at right angles, and lay low until
I had it back in line of communication again. Twice the fish tried the
expediency of running in towards me, and alarming Ben with the slack
line, delighting him in proportionate degree when the winching-in found
all taut and safe. So far as we could make out afterwards the fight
with my 'lunge lasted half an hour, and it was fighting, too, all the
while in the gamest fashion.

Little by little the line was shortened, and the battle, so far as the
rod and line went, was virtually won. Aching by this time in every
li