34 ALBACORA 



Walt Gorman was laughing wildly. Lou's bellows car- 

 ried clear from the big boat. It was a hysterical moment 

 for everyone, but how completely hysterical only Doty 

 can say. 



Strangely, perhaps instinctively, I managed to keep 

 the marlin on the end of my line throughout the frenzy. 

 From my low vantage point, I had been able to see my 

 fish, the whales and Hedley, all in varying degrees of 

 activity and excitement, with almost every glance. I had 

 to gear my own emotions down abruptly when my 

 marlin stopped jumping and went into a sulk. 



Like a human being who has had enough of a bad 

 thing, a fish sulks on occasion. My marlin sulked after 

 chasing himself all over the sea and then dove down 

 some hundred yards. With light tackle, there was no 

 way in which I could force him to the surface. "Cut 

 the motor," I said to Walt. "This may take a while." 

 When the motor silenced, the marlin was swimming 

 aimlessly about down below. I tightened the drag and 

 let him tow the boat. Tugged along by the line, we rode 

 silently and before long I was convinced that the marlin 

 was not as aimless as he had seemed. He was taking us 

 further and further from the Explorer. 



"When do you want to call it quits?" Walt asked me. 



"At the Panama Canal," I answered. 



Only ten minutes later the marlin surfaced and be- 

 gan making a reverse run, rushing straight toward the 

 stern of the Explorer, As a recent target of an oncoming 



