The Jewfishes 



sters in the Mexican Gulf, and had taken a Florida jewfish and a tar- 

 pon; and 1 saw that work of a similar kind was before me in this 

 fishing. The line jerked heavily in my hand, then began to run out 

 steadily. When about 6 feet had gone over the gunwale I stopped, 

 gave a glance at the coil to see that all was clear, and when the line 

 came taut jerked the hook into my first jewfish. 



" I have every reason to believe that the latter was astonished, as 

 for a single second there was no response ; then came a jerk that almost 

 lifted me from the boat, and the line went hissing over the rail like a 

 living thing, playing a merry hornpipe of its own composition. Nothing 

 could stop such a rush, and 1 simply waited, while Joe pulled up the 

 anchor. When the latter was in, I grasped the line and braced back 

 for the fight. The light boat whirled around like a top, and away we 

 went, like a tug surging through the water, an ominous wave of foam 

 rising high around the bow. 



" A lo-foot shark never pulled harder than this gamy fish, and for 

 5 minutes it was a question who was master. 1 took it in with the 

 greatest difficulty, gaining lo feet, only to have the fish rush toward 

 me and then dash away with an impetus that was more than irresistible. 

 Then I would stop him again, slowly making foot by foot, hand over 

 hand, taking a turn on the cleat, slacking and pulling, in attempts to 

 tire the monster — tactics that for a while were of no avail. 



"One of the tricks of this fish was to stop and jerk his head from 

 side to side violently, a proceeding that produced an effect equivalent 

 to striking blows at the holder of the line — tremendous jerks that 

 came, one, two, three! then one, two, three! — then the line would 

 slacken as the fish rushed up. And if 1 took the line in quickly enough 

 to prevent a turn, well and good ; if I did not, the fish would turn and 

 dash at the bottom, making everything hum and sing. 



"Giving and taking, hauling and easing off, for 20 minutes, I was 

 almost satisfied that I had done my whole duty in the premises, when 

 suddenly the fish rushed up, and recovering, 1 took in slack, and with 

 a final effort brought the black giant to the surface. For a moment I 

 saw a pair of eyes as large as those of an ox, a rich chestnut black, and 

 then, with a tremendous heave, the fish threw itself over, deluging me 

 with water and half capsizing the boat. It was the last struggle. I 

 kept my hold, and with another haul had the king of Pacific coast fishes 

 at hand's-length, where it rolled and tossed, its huge tail bathing us 

 with spray, protesting against its capture. 



" What a wonderful creature it was! The experience of the mo- 



379 



