256 Life in the Open 



adopting tactics designed to wear out the unsuspect- 

 ing angler : rising suddenly to plunge down with irresist- 

 ible force, to circle the boat, then run in. 



Don Antonio all this time held the oars in silence, 

 backing water, offering all the resistance possible, and 

 keeping the stern of the boat to the fish. The sea was 

 rising under the north-west wind, and to sit in the stern 

 of the boat rushing against a heavy sea was to invite 

 disaster. Once a big comber came surging in, and rein 

 had to be given the wild steed, that fortunately turned 

 inshore again, overrunning its former course. But it 

 was presently a question of cutting away the fish or 

 foundering, when the angler, in an inspiration, bethought 

 him of a bottle of oil in the boat, and a moment later 

 Don Antonio was pouring it over the side. The change 

 was magical ; the fluid mysteriously blazed a spot to the 

 windward of the boat perfectly smooth, and presently 

 the singular spectacle was witnessed of a low boat in the 

 centre of a heavy sea, yet in a zone of perfect calm ten 

 or twelve feet across. Here Don Antonio held the boat 

 while the angler renewed the struggle, and, two hours 

 from the strike, reeled the fish to the boat. 



Up it came, slowly swimming around in decreasing 

 circles, and as its full proportions dawned upon him, 

 Don Antonio made a fervent appeal to the saints. The 

 bass seemed as long as the boat a giant and as it 

 turned, its huge tail deluged the men with oil and water. 

 It was then that Don Antonio reached out and gaffed 

 the heaviest fish ever taken with rod and reel, gaffed 



