226 



THE AMERICAS Ml'SEl'M .lOl'HXAL 



\-i()lently, when we were all coveretl with 

 the blood of our victim and the boat was 

 almost filled with water, the youngest 

 member of the crew (Luther Dixon), 

 thinking that the end for all of us was 

 near, tried to force a harpoon into my 

 hand as he screamed, " Iron the big IniU 

 and let's all go to Hell in tow of a team 

 of devils!" I quote this to show the 

 temper of the men, for while Luther, 

 and probably others of the crew, thought 

 this our last fight, neither he nor any 

 other man showed even a trace of fear. 

 Then the dying Mania raised her head 

 against the side of the boat and gave a 

 loud harsh bark or cough, and as I ex- 

 claimed, "Watch her eyes looking two 

 ways at once!", the stricken creature 

 slowly rolled one of her eyes, until with 

 that one only, she seemed to look at all 

 of us behind her in the boat. 



Before striking the Mania I had looked 

 at my watch and called out the time, and 

 as the big fish died, I again pulled it out 

 and asked, "How long?" Not one of 

 the crew placed the time of the fight at 

 less than two hours and when I told 

 them that it had taken only twenty-two 

 minutes, they wanted to see if the watch 

 had not stopped. The fight was now 

 o\'er, the great female Mania that we 

 had come for was dead; but there was 

 still a man-sized job in front of us and 

 we at once made the fish fast to our 

 stern and headed for Blind Pass, more 

 than a mile away. We reached it in a 

 little over an hour of iiard towing, but 

 then met an ebb tifle against which we 

 could make no headway; so making the 

 specimen fast to the beach and leaving 

 three men to keep off sharks with lances, 

 I ran the bt)at inside and liired another 

 boat to assist with the towing; then re- 

 turning we made both l)()ats fast and 

 the long tow began. 



Just l)efore lea\ iiig Blind Pass I looked 

 l)ack out to sea and saw a red-looking 



dark patcli of about two acres in extent 

 on the surface of the water, which had 

 l)een made by the blood of the Mania. 

 This l)lood had evidently gathered many 

 fishes, for I saw, hovering o^■er and con- 

 tinually pitching into the bloodstained 

 water, a flock of about thirty pelicans. 



The distance from Blind Pass to the 

 spot at Capti\e Inlet where I had 

 planned to make my cast was twelve 

 miles and, with the two boats towing, 

 ten hours and a half were required to 

 make the trip. Long before we reached 

 our destination black night had closed 

 down on us and it was impossible to 

 see any light to steer by. Captain Jack, 

 however, had fished that bay for thirty 

 years and could tell our position by 

 sounding the bottom, l)ut when we were 

 well out near the middle of the bay a 

 violent squall suddenly broke on us, 

 with a roar of thunder, rain and wind, 

 and there were some who wanted to 

 cut loose from the prize, claiming that 

 we could return next morning and re- 

 cover it. I would not take the chance, 

 anfl although the wind got up a bad sea 

 and we shipped much water, we kept 

 baling out and by the time we reached 

 the end of our journey the storm had 

 passed. Quickly making the Mania fast 

 to the beach and leaving two men on 

 guard we ran the boat the two miles to 

 our living camp and had a few hours of 

 much needed sleep; then with the re- 

 turn of daylight we were all back at 

 work on the specimen. 



The rise and fall of the tide on this 

 coast is not sufficient to aid materially 

 in l)ringing such a fish out of the water 

 so I had materials in place for the work. 

 First we ran three thirty-five-foot, heavy, 

 (lock timbers out into the water under 

 the fish; on the top of these were placed 

 five two-and-a-cpiarter inch turned roll- 

 ers, and on the top of these, next to the 

 fish, three planks. Two heavy ropes 



