500 MODERN SEA FISHING 



to the society of her station at home was helping to eke out 

 their existence as a washerwoman, working at the same tub 

 with black women. The gardener at one of the hotels we 

 stayed at was a public school boy. A rough man, who earned 

 his living by carrying fruit up and down the coast in a boat, 

 was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, had almost com- 

 pletely forgotten his native country, and had not the least desire 

 for any other kind of existence than the adventurous life he 

 was leading. 



But to hark back to my day at Marco. We had gone about 

 a mile, and Hart was resting on his oars for a moment, when 

 on a sudden, within three feet of the boat, there was a huge 

 swish and swirl a miniature maelstrom for a moment and 

 there appeared a great black back and huge projecting fin. 



' Tarpon,' said Hart. 



It was my first sight of a big fish, and I must frankly con- 

 fess that I felt nervous when I looked at my comparatively 

 small rod and its frail line. He must have been a daring fellow 

 who first thought of the idea of killing a tarpon with rod and 

 reel. Presently the excitement of the sport was upon me. We 

 proceeded as rapidly as possible up the creek, and anchored 

 under the lee of an island. During the night Hart had gone 

 out with his casting net and captured a couple of dozen mullet, 

 varying in size from twelve to eighteen inches. In a moment 

 he had his knife out, and off came the head of a mullet. Then 

 he threaded the hook through it with a large skewer, attached 

 the leather trace to the line, and cast for me not a long cast, 

 under the circumstances perhaps twenty-five or thirty yards. 

 The bait sank to the bottom, and I sat with the check off 

 the reel, and some loose line gathered in the boat, awaiting 

 events. 



Every kind of fishing has its drawbacks, and tarpon is not 

 without them. What wind and trees are to the fly fisherman, 



