36 ALBACORA 



twisting through a frenzy that no living thing could sus- 

 tain for very long. My line was taut and my nerves were 

 even tauter but I knew it was only a matter of minutes. 

 The marlin exhausted himself before he exhausted me, 

 and in a surprisingly short time I had him right along- 

 side the WaWa. He was tired now, his sleek body 

 shining and glistening in the blue water. "What a 

 beauty," I said to Walt. "Isn't he something?" 



"Damn right," Walt said. "This is one baby we're 

 not going to mark. We won't have to bother to gaff him." 



"What do you mean?" I said. 



Instead of telling me, Walt showed me. 



He grabbed the marlin's bill and tugged with every 

 bit of strength and leverage he could command. The 

 fish, all 287 pounds of him, came up across the WaWa^s 

 bow. Almost all of the marlin landed squarely on me. 

 I went down to the bottom of the WaWa. Walt looked 

 at me and laughed. "Help me," I cried. Instead he 

 started the engine and sped over to the Explorer, There, 

 everyone was waiting, and this one time everybody 

 noticed me, or as much of me as was visible around 

 the edges of my fish. 



There is nothing really funny, glamorous or even 

 faintly romantic in being underneath a flopping fish. 

 After strong hands had separated the fish and me and 

 I had climbed back aboard the Explorer, I longed for a 

 few moments to catch my breath. From the stern I 

 limped toward the cabin. 



