no OLD BLACK BASS 



whether the bass or the pickerel shall be the 

 dominant game fish of the American waters. 

 This test was typical, representative of the 

 two races, symbolical of the group struggle 

 that in the years to come would end the 

 dominance of one and establish the other. 



Friendly saw the wounds of her mate 

 and was distressed. She would have inter- 

 vened had nature not bade otherwise. 

 Leaper would have gone in now and thrown 

 his unwearied spirit into the struggle, but 

 he knew it was not so to be. 



From beneath the Killer clamped his 

 plierlike jaws about Old Black Bass's body 

 just back of the anal, and the grip held. 

 The big bass lashed his body furiously to 

 break it, but the supple pickerel snapped 

 back and to at the lashings like the cracker 

 of a whip. But it was a body wound alone, 

 and pierced no viscera or vital organ. He 

 loosed his hold to snap higher up on the 

 belly, as a dog will loose to catch deeper. 

 But the instant the jaws slackened Old 

 Black Bass wrenched free. 



One of the pickerel's long teeth caught 

 in the heavy skin. He was lifted high be- 

 fore he could free himself. And with the 



