Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-07

| at the same time he informed US that he
had obtained permission from our boat
man to become one of our party for the
day, and with our consent he would be
pleased to accompany us. My husband,
who, by the way, is of an extremely So
ciable disposition, without hesitancy told
the gentleman that we would certainly be
delighted to have his company but, fear
ing that he might get sea sick and there
fore spoil our fishing by compelling us to
return, requested him to pledge his word
and honor that he would not be sick. To
this he graciously consented and smilingly
informed me that my fears were groundless,
as he "never was sick" He also stated
that on the day previous he had ventured
| out to sea in company with three ladies,
and unfortunately they became so sick he
was obliged TO return without his fish, and
his reasons for wishing to accompany US
were that he had ascertained from the
boatman that we were never sick and that
we always returned with beautiful lot of
| fish.
| He was a fne-looking man, strong and
robust in appearance and his portly figure
was charmingly set off by genial. smil-
| ing countenance, and his conversational
qualities were simply enchanting. We
were forthwith captured by his interesting
discourse, and silently congratulated our
selves upon the acquisition of such a COM
panion. He was assigned a seat in the
bow of the boat, directly facing the rest of
us, and we were soon skimming over the
| placid waters of the Bay of Monterey and
laughing at the witty sayings of our enter
tanning friend.
| AS usual, we rowed directly to the smelt
grounds, where we soon captured beauti-
| full basket of the pretty little fish, our Mr..
| H. proving to be a capital angler; and |
trembled in anticipation of his carrying
off the honors of the days sport Upon
our departure for the ocean our lunch
basket was produced, and everybody par
took heartily of sandwiches, cold coffee and
fruit, except Mr.. H., who daintily minced
one lucious little peach, and could not be
prevailed upon to indulge in more sub
stantial viands. We were soon rocking
beautifully upon the heaying bosom of the
grand old ocean, when suddenly all was
still within our little boat; the melodious
tones of our entertaining friend had ceased
and only the splash of the oars in the
hands of our boatman broke the painful
stiffness.
Evidently there was something wrong
in the bow.
Taking hasty look in that direction, l
was somewhat surprised to see that the
ruddy countenance of Mr.. H. had assumed
vivid whiteness, his lips were closely
compressed and his eyes were religiously
intent upon some imaginary object of the
most profound interest, which was evil
IDENTIFY supposed to be located in the ex-
IRENE bottom of the boat and in close
proximity to his toes. My suspicious were
slightly aroused, and | could not resist the
temptation to give my husband vigorous
pinch and nod my head toward the discon-
solate- looking figure forward. In reply he
gave me knowing smile, and we at once
engaged in lively conversation upon the
beauty and grandeur of the sea, dwelling
at length upon the delightful sensation of
the motion of our boat as it danced over
the waves, one minute resting upon the
brow of a mountain, the next plunglng
into the valley below. In vain we expa-
tiated upon the pleasures of saltwater fish
ing, in vain attempted to engage our once
social friend in conversation but alas
no response from the bow Presently a
happy thought possessed me, and reaching
the basket of fruit | passed it forward,
saying, "Mr. H, will you have peach ~
A mournful shake of the head and a
family -murmured Thanks were my only
reward; but some mirthful glances were
exchanged between the boatman and our
selves as we quietly watched the develop
ment of proceedings forward.
Presently, rousing himself from his med
itations, and giving me beseeching
glance, he exclaimed, "Mrs. -, what
are you going to do with me if get sea-
sick ?''
"Throw you overheard, of course" re-
piled, "for breaking your promise. We
came out here to fish, and we must have
them at whatever cost"
Before / ceased speaking there was a
hasty movement forward, hat was pre-
cipitated into the bottom of the boat, the
portly form of Mr.. H. lay at full length
across the bow, and his head was dangling
overheard. This was proof positive there
could be no mistake this time. | did not
smile, but laughed outright in malicious
delight at the thought that this was one
instance in which a lord of creation was
getting his pay as he went along for break
tally prayed that there might be more
cases develop. The peach, we supposed,
went overheard, but Mr.. H., after severe
spell of coughing and strangling, once
more bore himself erect, and wiping the
briny surf from his eyes, exclaimed, "Hang
that peach, Mrs. -, that was your
fault" l took no affront at this, but, on
the contrary, felt thankful that the
woman in the case" was at hand to bear
the blame for the suffering lord.
| Well, We reached the fishing grounds at
last, and all went bravely to work. Even
Mr.. H., who declared himself "all right
after the delivering up of the peach, sue
ceeded in pulling in two or three beautiful
rock-cod, when all at once he was pros
trated again with his head overheard. We
went on with our fishing, thinking his case
was not serious, but that he had probably
concluded to go down after the peach. We
caught all the fish we could carry home,
had a fine time, and l laughed myself
nearly sick at the persistence of Mr.. III. in
his periodical endeavors to recover the
poor little peach. Just as we were think
ing of going home the sea became rough
and the white caps commenced swapping
about us, even dashing into the boat yet
l begged to be allowed time 10 catch just
one more "blue." Mr.. H. gave me a
whitening look and began winding in his
lire, saying, "Well, am not going to fish
any more; but if you want to take boat
ride, Madam, go ahead. Iprefer to enjoy
the scenery" But the tears trickled down
my nose with laughter when l saw him
take one hasty survey of the scenery
then, with more haste than grace, throw
himself full length across the bow again.
With a great deal of laughter and joking
| at the eynense of Mr. ii We reached the