Then one of us got a fish
which made him yell, "Shark! shark!" with all his might. He had
a small line of American cotton, staunch as copper wire, but
dreadfully cutting to the hands. When he took a turn round the
logger-head, the friction of the running line cut right into the
white oak, but the wonderful cord and hook still held their own.
At last the monster yielded, coming in at first inch by inch,
then more rapidly, till raised in triumph above the gunwhale--a
yellow-tail six feet long. I have caught this splendid fish
(ELAGATIS BIPINNULATIS) many times before and since then, but
never did I see such a grand specimen as this one--no, not by
thirty or forty pounds. Then I got a giant cavalle. His broad,
shield-like body blazed hither and thither as I struggled to ship
him, but it was long ere he gave in to superior strength and
excellence of line and hook.
Meanwhile, the others had been steadily increasing our cargo,
until, feeling that we had quite as much fish as would suffice
us, besides being really a good load, I suggested a move towards
the ship. We were laying within about half a mile of the shore,
where the extremity of the level land reached the cliffs. Up one
of the well-worn tracks a fine, fat goat was slowly creeping,
stopping every now and then to browse upon the short herbage that
clung to the crevices of the rock.
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