Paddling under Palmettos — page 159: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

152 Paddling Under Palmettos. they busied themselves laying in a supply of live bait, after which each man embarked. Soon the tide was rushing over the bar, and with it came multitudes of fish of a dozen varieties. This was a new method of fishing to Archie Forbes. At first the excitement was immense. When he struck home there was a delicious uncer- tainty as to whether one was fast to a game fish or a ten-foot shark. Ned described it exactly when he said it reminded him of the time when the labels washed off all his cans, and when he selected one at random there was an agony of suspense as to whether supper would consist of baked beans or peaches. It was laborious work pulling the fish in when caught, too. Playing them was utterly out of the question, for their antics would be sure to attract the attention of a shark, who would relieve the strain on the line by taking channel bass, hook and all—indeed, it was sometimes considered lucky to save the line. Archie lost seven hooks, thirty feet of line, several sinkers, and cut his hands in a number of places. EO PMIEL ONCOL KS (€(@)