242 Life in the Open 



Tony rowin' ? Eh ! who say he 's a Don ? He better 

 be up Middle Ranch grubbin' cactus ; there 's wha' he 



b'long." 



Don Antonio must have heard these and other 

 criticisms, but he said nothing, and whether deep in 

 his Aztec heart he was determining to give back these 

 taunts, blow for blow, no one could tell ; but the fact 

 remains that he was another example of what oppor- 

 tunity will do for latent genius. He was born to fame, 

 and at the end of the season, not long after the mid- 

 summer solstice, still silent and imperturbable, he stood 

 a prominent figure in one of the greatest feats in 

 the world of angling, overshadowing and silencing all 

 his critics among the boatmen, gaffers, and chummers of 

 the island. 



It came about as follows : The tuna season at the 

 island closes for some mysterious reason on or about 

 August first, though specimens have been reluctantly 

 caught in the middle of that month, and their high and 

 lofty tumbling may be often witnessed far into the fall. 

 The ending of this season of muscular conclusions with 

 the greatest of game fishes finds a small army of expert 

 anglers, who delight in the excitement of this big game, 

 with summer but partly gone and the tuna retired from 

 the field, its season being May, June, and July. It is 

 now that the resources of nature, so far as they relate 

 to big game at the Southern California islands, become 

 apparent, and instead of putting away the split bamboo 

 and green-heart rods and big tuna reels,, the angler, 



