190 ALBACORA 



a sizable marlin. "Damn," I said to Lou, after the fish 

 had turned his head and then submerged. "That bird's 

 bad luck." 



"Don't blame the bird," Lou said pointedly. "Charlie 

 didn't do the baiting." 



"No, look," I began. "I've got a new technique I want 

 to try with this six-thread outfit, if only I can get an- 

 other chance, and I'm a little on edge." Charlie was 

 waddling behind the fighting chair as I turned to him. 

 "Charlie," I said, "get in on the act, will you? That 

 makes two fish you owe me so far." 



Charlie appeared to ignore the comment, but five 

 minutes later Walt spotted a marlin fin cutting through 

 the water not far ahead. It was a huge dorsal fin, the 

 biggest that we had seen yet. The Explorer closed in, 

 but the first time we baited the marlin he turned away, 

 just as the earlier marlin had done. He continued to 

 ignore me. Then the marlin lunged for the bait, hit 

 it and ran. To make absolutely certain of this one, 

 I struck six times. My spool almost went bare. The 

 marlin was hooked and trying to break away. 



"Turn sharp and then get after him," I shouted to 

 Wah. 



"No," he called back from the bridge. "You'll lose 

 too much line that way." 



I was asking Walt to turn so that the fish would have 

 almost all my line. Of course the line might break 

 under the strain of the first turn. 



