Hunting Tarpon in Corpus CJiristi Waters 



19 



tail into the water on the further side. 

 Others jumped clear over the skiff at 

 its widest part, and the occasional 

 thump announced that one had made a 

 miscalculation and landed on the in- 

 side. One ambitious fish actually leaped 

 on the Tola's deck. 



After we had passed this bar we 

 were in the pass. This pass or channel 

 connects Corpus Christi bay with the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and is bounded on the 

 north by Mustang, and the south by 

 Padre island. The channel is about 

 four miles in length, and winds about 

 between the sand hills like a river. 



Going up this channel we had to 

 beat against the wind, and it was nearly 

 sundown before Fermin headed the 

 boat into shore and called out to 

 "lower the jib." 



Our anchorage was soon 

 made, and then we looked 

 around; standing on the deck 

 we could see the breakers of 

 the gulf about 150 yards away, 

 separated from us by a narrow 

 strip of sand, the southern ex- 

 tremity of Mustang island. On 

 the other side of the "river," 

 as we named it, the sand hills 

 of Padre island rose up out of 

 the water, dazzling white to a 

 height of forty or fifty feet, 

 clothed at the top with a coat 

 of bright green. 



You may be sure we enjoyed 

 our supper, sitting under the 

 awning — bacon, fish, corndod- 

 gers, preserves and coffee, and 

 we had regular sea-dog appe- 

 tites. 



We were too well satisfied to 

 wander about that night, and 

 sat on the deck, watching the 

 stars come out, and occasionally 

 stirring up the water of the 



Pass to see the phosphorescent glow. 

 While enjoying ourselves in this man- 

 ner, it seemed as though the water be- 

 low us suddenly became alive with 

 darting streaks of flame, crossing and 

 zigzagging and darting here and there, 

 occasionally leaping to the surface and 

 splashing up a shower of little dia- 

 monds. 



It was a beautiful sight, but when 

 Fermin told us they were shrimp, our 

 physical nature got the best of us, and 

 nothing would satisfy us but shrimp. 

 So Fermin took his net and threw it 

 out over the school. As the net struck 

 the water every mesh turned to gold, 

 and when drawn in it looked like a 

 golden balloon floating in space; but 

 that didn't spoil our appetite for shrimp, 

 and we soon had a bucket full over the 



