ALBACORA 185 



Mario put him down, Charlie climbed onto the bait box, 

 tucked his head down his back deep underneath his 

 wings and remained motionless. 



"We've got to do something," Lou said. 



"Old bird," Mario said. ''Muy viejor 



"Well, I guess that means he'll kick the bucket," 

 Lou said. 



"Maybe that's why he's here," I said. "Maybe he 

 came aboard the Explorer to die." 



Lou massaged his neck vigorously and continued for 

 a full ten minutes. "He'll come out of it," Lou said. 

 "He's going to be all right." Then Charlie dropped a 

 large white clot on Lou's right shoe. "Damn," Lou said. 

 "There's nothing wrong with this bird any more." He 

 put Charlie back on the deck and the bird recovered as 

 quickly as he had fallen ill. 



Later in the afternoon, I had a fine striped marlin 

 at the end of a six-thread line. Marlin are not as large 

 as albacora but they are tough and fast. This one was 

 the most powerful of any I had ever hooked. He tore 

 ofF so rapidly that I actually had to pour water on my 

 reel to cool the line. The striper was swift and exciting 

 and demanded all of my attention. Suddenly I heard 

 shouts. 



"Charlie," Lou was shouting. "Hey, Charlie flew 

 overboard. There goes Charlie. Hey, Charlie, come 

 here. There he is, Walt, over there. Let's get after him." 



"Never mind Charlie," I demanded in the strident 



