The brook he found was too shallow for him to catch fish in this way. At
the sight of him and his net, they scurried away to deep water. Neither
could he succeed in the shallow water along the shore. "I must wade out
as far as I can," he said to himself, "and draw the net through the
water."
As he did this he was surprised at the many forms of sea life, new to
him, that he saw. He, however, was careful and watchful. He walked along
near the shore to a point where some rocks showed above the surface. As
he looked ahead he saw the single eye of a giant cuttle-fish glaring at
him from among the rocks. It was thrusting out its long arms towards
him. He drew back quickly, but as he did so he was terrified to hear the
snap of some huge creature's jaws near him. A great shark had seen him
and had thrown himself on his back to seize him in his rows of sharp
teeth, but was prevented reaching him by the shallowness of the water.
Robinson was too much terrified to continue longer his attempt at
fishing. He went back to his cave with only a few small ones, not worth
the trouble of dressing for his dinner.
The next day undismayed he tried again. He succeeded in drawing in some
very beautiful large fish. Their sides shone as burnished gold and
silver. "Now," he thought, "I will have a feast." He carried them home,
carefully cleaned and dressed them, seasoned them with his salt, and
broiled them over his fire. Imagine his disappointment when they proved
unfit to eat. Their flesh was coarse and tough and ill-tasting. He saw
that the catching of fish for his table was a more difficult thing than
he thought it. He must not only catch fish, but catch ones that could be
eaten. He could only tell the good from the bad by trying them.
He was more fortunate in his next venture. He was going along the shore
at the mouth of the creek which ran near his cave when he noticed a
group of fishes, dark bluish above with silvery sides. The largest of
them were about two feet long. They were feeding on the bottom in the
brackish water at the mouth of the creek, which at its mouth opened out
into quite a little bay or inlet. They would take up a mouthful of earth
from the bottom and let it wash through their mouths, keeping all the
bits of food that happened to be in it. When one fish got a good place
to feed the others swam around it and tried to get some of the food.
Robinson watched his chance and slipped his net under a group, while
each one was busy trying to get the best mouthful of mud. He drew up
three quite large fish, but just as he was about to lift them from the
water, one of the cords which bound the net to the poles broke and he
saw his catch fall back into the creek and dart away in the deepest
water. But Robinson was not to be discouraged. He soon mended his net
and at last was successful. In a short time he drew out another catch of
two fish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account