136 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



wonder how it would be got on board. It was got in 

 safely, and the victor of the long tussle often tells, 

 with as much modesty as he can, of his fight with an 

 eighty-seven-pound conger when the Channel waves 

 ran high. 



How glad I was when we were free to haul at the 

 anchor; and haul and haul we did, until it became 

 evident we had not the strength to move it from its 

 hold. 'We must wait until the tide eases' was the 

 verdict of the captain. Another son gave in before 

 I realised that the anchor was in no way necessary 

 to our sailing, and that its cost was paltry in such need 

 as ours. 



Sport may be so nearly allied to hard work and 

 so near being minus of any necessity for skill that 

 one or two experiences are sufhcient to satisfy. A 

 friend of mine who has travelled the world all over for 

 fishing went to Florida for tarpon, and only fished 

 three days, during which he had great success, and 

 took photographs of his prizes while they were leaping. 

 'I saw this sport in all its phases, Geen, in those three 

 days and had enough of it.' I rather think that his 

 having a tarpon come at a lure consisting of a scrap 

 of a daily paper was what settled liim. The following 

 is his version : — 



*I had a grand morning that used up all my bait, 

 and, while my men rowed to another boat for more, 

 I tore up a piece of the paper I was reading, twisted 

 it upon my hook, and almost immediately a fish took 

 it away with a great tug. This happened twice before 

 I got some bait. That was my last day for tarpon, 

 for I thought, if it could swallow what I had been 

 reading, it must be the stupidest fish that swims.' 



