then appeared flapping wings and the 

 floundering shining body of a big fish, 

 lashing the water into a foam, through 

 which it was difficult to see whether bird 

 or fish was on top. Suddenly, both 

 disappeared under water. Bige excit- 

 edly yelled, "He's got his hooks into a 

 whale of a fish! He'll never let go! 

 He'll be drowned! Gosh!!" Then he 

 rowed the boat nearer to the place of 

 battle. A few heart beats later, and 

 the fight was again on the surface. 

 Wings flapped mightily, fish wriggled 

 and twisted and again the water was 

 churned into foam. We now plainly 

 saw the two pairs of ice- tongs- talons of 

 the bird, firmly clamped on the body of 

 the pickerel, which exceeded in length 

 (from head to tail) about six inches, the 

 spread of wings from tip to tip. Wings 

 continued to pound air and water but 

 the big fish could not be lifted above 

 the surface. One more desperate pull 

 8 



