He was a big, shaggy, round-headed animal, with a greyish coat
with some patches of light reddish colour on it; what his breed was I
cannot say, but he looked somewhat like a sheep-dog or an otter-hound.
Suddenly he plunged in, quite disappearing from sight, but quickly
reappeared with a big shad of about three and a half or four pounds'
weight in his jaws. Climbing on to the rock he dropped the fish, which
he did not appear to have injured much, as it began floundering about
in an exceedingly lively manner. I was astonished and looked back at
the dog's master; but there he stood in the same place, smoking and
paying no attention to what his animal was doing. Again the dog
plunged in and brought out a second big fish and dropped it on the
flat rock, and again and again he dived, until there were five big
shads all floundering about on the wet rock and likely soon to be
washed back into the water. The shad is a common fish in the Plata and
the best to eat of all its fishes, resembling the salmon in its rich
flavour, and is eagerly watched for when it comes up from the sea by
the Buenos Ayres fishermen, just as our fishermen watch for mackerel
on our coasts. But on this evening the beach was deserted by every
one, watchers included, and the fish came and swarmed along the rocks,
and there was no one to catch them--not even some poor hungry idler to
pounce upon and carry off the five fishes the dog had captured.
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