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TJic American Anzlcr. 



them there. We did not return to the 

 Ida until we saw the towel fluttering 

 from the mast head, when we knew 

 that dinner was ready. 



Our midday meal disposed of, we 

 lounged around under the awning, en- 

 joying our siesta, until the sun had 

 crawled around into the west, when we 

 again started out. As before. Will and 

 I, accompanied by Mac, carrying the 

 cast net, started along the beach 

 toward the Gulf. As we were passing 

 a large pool of water left by the falling 

 tide, Mac spied a fish therein. He did 

 not know what it was, but, with com- 

 mendable enterprise, he proceeded to 

 gather it into the net. Did you ever 

 see a little fat man throw a six-foot 

 net? We did; but our laughing didn't 

 discourage him, for finally he drew out 

 the net with a four-foot sawfish en- 

 tangled in its meshes. (Any other 

 kind of fish would have escaped. ) 



Heretofore we had been wading 

 through pools waist deep, but after 

 this we were more careful. This saw- 

 fish represented the sum total of our 

 catch, and Frank and Fermin did no 

 better. From some cause hard to 

 explain, the tide at times brought in 

 muddy water, while in a few hours 

 after it might be perfectly clear. Fer- 

 min explained this by saying that the 

 fish were so numerous they stirred up 

 the sand on the bottom, but, we took 

 that with at least two grains of salt. 

 We had no fish for supper that night, 

 but a half hour's work with a lantern 

 and flounder gig gave us enough for 

 "breakfast, and so we all turned in and 

 slept the sleep of the just. 



With the advent of daylight, Frank 

 routed us out, and we soon had our 

 breakfast. This morning Frank and 

 Mac determined to further explore St. 

 Joseph's Island, and so with Fermin at 



the oars, started across the channel, 

 leaving Will and I to hustle our own 

 bait. This we soon did and started for 

 the beach, determined to have at least 

 one good fish in the surf. When we 

 reached the beach, we found it some- 

 what diffierent from what we had ex- 

 pected. The smooth, white sand was 

 worn into little channels from two to 

 three feet in depth, separated by strips 

 of sand. In the first channel we came 

 to, we saw a sawfish, the next con- 

 tained two, and the third held a blue 

 shark, a huge stingaree and another 

 sawfish. Right then and there, we 

 concluded that we did not care about 

 surf fishing anyway and retired to the 

 beach, where, seated on an old log, we 

 composed sensations and mutually 

 agreed that we had good and sufficient 

 cause for exterminating such varmint. 

 While thus deliberating, we witnessed 

 a beautiful yet aggravating spectacle. 

 Out just beyond the breakers, in the 

 undulating lines of shaded green, a 

 school of fish were disporting, when 

 their happiness was rudely broken by 

 the appearance of several larger fish. 

 We were unable to tell what variety 

 either victim or victimizer were, but 

 we could see the smaller ones jump 

 from the water in fright, often followed 

 clear into the air by their pursuers. 



So near and yet so far. We could 

 wade out and reach those fish with a 

 long cast, but, there were these chan- 

 nels and things, so we didn't try. 

 Instead, we sat and watched them for 

 awhile and then turned back to the 

 lola in a revengeful mood. We got 

 even with two sawfish anyway, for we 

 were soon back with an old fish spear 

 and succeeded in bringing a couple of 

 them out on the beach. While holding 

 a council of war on the advisability of 

 going after the shark, Will noticed the 



