DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 253 



without distress or murmur they are almost prepared 

 to treat him as an equal. If Tony's display of sailing 

 skill in half a gale amongst tumbling waters was 

 prompted by this desire he did it so thoroughly as 

 to prove that there would be some danger to himself 

 before the fishers would see anything but what was 

 comic in holding fish while being tossed from seat to 

 floor. Harry timibled and gathered himself into a 

 kneehng posture, and from that fell over on his side, 

 while holding as firmly as he dared to a pollack that 

 whirred the handle of his winch so near his lips that his 

 laughter and the wheel's noise were blended. I could 

 not help him as I was bus}'' with a determined fish, but, 

 as a father should, I offered him sound advice, 'Hold 

 to him from where you are until I get this one in.' 



Then there were hours of soft, warm breezes for 

 easy sailing, when the pleasure of successful fishing 

 was in every detail of each capture. Tdny, the venture- 

 some, ventured then to places between rocks where 

 a bigger fish than we had caught might have a home; 

 perhaps the big one was there that is never caught 

 although so often hooked. It is just as well the 

 monster has not yet been captured, as we can still 

 search the seas for him wdth the certain knowledge 

 that he takes the angler's lures most readily and, when 

 a mighty tug comes and the wheel screams out for 

 help, we can wonder if we have him on, A fisher 

 friend of mine had the monster salmon on, there can 

 be no doubt, for this is the impression his tale of it 

 made on me. It rushed, tugged, jiggered, and sulked 

 in turns as no fish had ever done before, and after 

 playing his would-be capturer for an hour and a half, 

 and tiring him until he could not lift his cramped 

 arms, it snapped the trace and severed its connection 

 with the used-up man, but, that it might not quite 

 forget him, it kept his fly. 



*It was a monster, Geen, and had you been there 

 and gaffed it for me you would have slapped my back 



