Suddenly one of the men, in lifting his net, slipped on the
smooth bottom of the boat, jolting one of the oars. There was a
gleam of light below as the school turned--they had all
disappeared instanter. We had been so busy that we had not
noticed the dimensions of our catch; but now, to our great joy,
we found that we had at least eight hundred fish nearly as large
as herrings. We at once returned to the ship, having been absent
only two hours, during which we had caught sufficient to provide
all hands with three good meals. Not one of the crew had ever
seen or heard of such fishing before, so my pride and pleasure
may be imagined. A little learning may be a dangerous thing at
times, but it certainly is often handy to have about you. The
habit of taking notice and remembering has often been the means
of saving many lives in suddenly-met situations of emergency, at
sea perhaps more than anywhere else, and nothing can be more
useful to a sailor than the practice of keeping his weather-eye
open.
In Barbadoes there is established the only regular flying-fishery
in the world, and in just the manner I have described, except
that the boats are considerably larger, is the whole town
supplied with delicious fish at so trifling a cost as to make it
a staple food among all classes.
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