1 68 Fish Stories 



then the Senator said, ' General, it's melting.' Those were 

 your precise words, were they not. Senator ? " 



" I was there," answered the Senator diplomatically. 



" That reel had caught fire," the General continued, " and 

 was melting under the terrific rush. I held it as far off as 

 possible, so that the molten drops fell into the boat, but the 

 rod caught fire, and, gentlemen," and the General's cold blue 

 eye traversed the group of attentive listeners, " the Senator 

 and I witnessed a sight probably unique in the history of 

 angling. The rod burned to a cinder, the metal reel seat 

 melted, the agate guides cracked, and exploded, and, as I 

 held the rod up, giving the fish the butt for the last time, 

 we saw the fire catch that oiled silk line and follow it down 

 into the blue ocean like a streak of lightning; the line became 

 incandescent. I was peering down into the water watching 

 it boil, and sizzle, when the boatman cried * fire,' and turn- 

 ing I saw him and the Senator fighting the flames; the oil 

 around the engine had caught from the melted reel. 



" We were in immediate danger, but, fortunately, we had 

 several bait buckets aboard, and for two hours we fought 

 the flames. We had life preservers, but the oil in the tank 

 ■exploded, and we were surrounded by burning oil; we 

 couldn't jump overboard for the water was afire. So we 

 fought the fire and finally put it out, but even then we were 

 in danger as the fire on the water now began to eat into the 



hull, and we had about given up, when my friend B 



came along and, with a splendid disregard of danger I never 

 saw equaled, fought that fiery water to a finish." 



" Don't mention it," said B . *' It was a pleasure, a 



mere bagatelle. You see," he explained, " I go well pro- 

 visioned, and we had at that time about seventy cans of 

 mock turtle soup aboard, and it suddenly occurred to me 

 that I had heard somewhere that mock turtle was an irritant 

 to any sort of combustion ; the rest was easy." 



" I saw you," said the General, *' pour can after can over, 

 and your heroic boatman feeding you as you worked." 



