mouth. I was about to take it from the hook when my uncle called, "Look
out!" He seized it, and showed me the long, needle-like projections on
its back, with which, but for his interference, my hand might have been
badly wounded. This unwelcome visitor was a sculpin. Sculpins are very
numerous in this region.

[Illustration: MACKEREL-BOATS.]

Uncle James explained how I happened to catch one of them. They swim at
a much greater depth than mackerel usually do, and, while I was busy
with one line, the other had sunk some twelve or fifteen feet down where
the sculpins dwelt.

When mackerel are inclined to take the bait, they are usually close to
the surface of the water. They began now to bite with the greatest
eagerness, and gave us all the work that we could do. As soon as I had
taken a fish from one line, the other demanded my attention. I did not
have to _wait_ for a bite. Indeed, as soon as the hook was thrown into
the water, several mackerel would dart for it. As George said, they were
very anxious to be caught. This was very different from my previous
experience in fishing for trout in the little brooks near my home. I
used to fish all day and not get more than two or three trout, and often
I would not get one. Those that I did catch were not more than four or
five inches long. I guess some of my boy readers have had the same
experience.

The only drawback was baiting the hook whenever a fish was taken from
it. Uncle James soon remedied this difficulty. He cut from the under
side of a dead mackerel six thin pieces, about half an inch in diameter,
and gave each of us two. We put them on our hooks, and they served for