146 THE TARPON 



sider the form of report you will render when you are asked 

 the question put to Job thousands of years ago : 



"Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?" 

 The angler is cautioned that this question will be put by 

 friends whose ideas of a large fish go back to a certain three- 

 pound bass they captured over a decade before. So if they wag 

 their heads sagely when you tell them of your exploits don't 

 be crestfallen. True genius is rarely appreciated in this world. 

 The art of telling a plausible story to your friends at home is 

 sometimes harder than it is to lay its foundation by the cap- 

 ture of the fish. When your simple and truthful tale is derided 

 as a clumsy and ill-constructed story false upon its face, you 

 may find solace in reading these eloquent words of a famous 

 angler and great man — Grover Cleveland : 



"It is sometimes said that there is such close relation- 

 ship between mendacity and fishing that in matters con- 

 nected with their craft all fishermen are untruthful. It 

 must, of course, be admitted that large stories of fishing 

 adventure are sometimes told by fishermen — and why 

 should this not be so? Beyond all question, there is no 

 sphere of human activity so full of strange and wonderful 

 incidents as theirs. Fish are constantly doing the most 

 mysterious and startling things ; and no one has yet been 

 wise enough to explain their ways or account for their 

 conduct. The best fishermen do not attempt it ; they move 

 and strive in an atmosphere of mystery and uncertainty, 

 constantly aiming to reach results without a clue and 

 through the cultivation of faculties non-existent or in- 

 operative in the common mind. In these circumstances 

 fishermen necessarily see and do wonderful things. If 

 those not members of the brotherhood are unable to as- 

 similate the recital of these wonders, it is because their 

 believing apparatus has not been properly regulated and 

 stimulated. Such disability falls very far short of justify- 

 ing doubt as to the truth of the narration. ' ' 



