ALBACORA 27 



"Right," roared Lou. 



"Anybody worried about me?" I cried. 



Both Lou and I landed our marlin. Mario gaffed 

 mine and hauled him aboard. Later on we weighed 

 him in at 318 pounds, the heaviest marlin any woman 

 had ever caught with fifty-pound test-strength line. 

 There seemed to be no end to my adventuring on 

 this three-ring circus day, but a runabout in the WaWa 

 was the one thing I wanted most to try. While Gus was 

 cleaning the marlin blood off the stern deck, Mario 

 again cried out, ''Marlina!" About a hundred yards to 

 the north, I saw a set of marlin fins. I caught Walt 

 Gorman's eye, then glanced at the WaWa. Walt under- 

 stood. Without a word, I grabbed a nine-thread outfit, 

 which could withstand thirty pounds of pressure and 

 which Lou had used to get his marlin when he was in 

 the WaWa. Then I hopped into the skiff. Walt followed, 

 Gus grabbed the towline and we were off. Walt gunned 

 the outboard and I could feel the power throb. 



We sped toward the sleek marlin fins, over the rolling 

 ocean forty miles off the Chilean shore, borne up only 

 by a flying peanut shell. It was fascinating and fright- 

 ening. First a wave lifted us high, and then we went 

 skidding down into a trough where indigo walls of water 

 closed out all the world. Again we were up on another 

 wave, riding up to the pinnacle now, with the rim of 



