12 Recreations of a Sportsman 



It has been niy good luck to be a party to 

 some interesting sea fights with various kinds of 

 game in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and around 

 the waters of the Pacific coast; indeed, I believe 

 I have been a witness to contests more than re- 

 markable, and of a character to be doubted by 

 the layman who was not present, but of all 

 these, this fight of Gifford Pinchot with a sword- 

 fish, as I saw it, always in his wake, sometimes 

 too near for his patience, comfort, and the safety 

 of his line, impressed me as the pluckiest and 

 most sensational angling experience I had ever 

 seen, or even heard of. Later Pinchot was in- 

 clined to laugh at my enthusiasm, but he was 

 playing the fish, and I was the cool and damp 

 spectator. In the excitement he forgot all about 

 the danger, while it was my business to know 

 it, and if possible to avert it. 



The sea was rising and the swordfish was con- 

 stantly edging out into rougher water, holding 

 the skiff down by the stern, and I fully expected 

 the thing to happen to them, that did to me. 



A tuna was hauling me, stern first, against a 

 heavy sea, w T hen along came one of the peculiar 

 big waves which are often seen. The tuna 

 rushed at just the right time, and the stern of 

 the boat smashed into the crest of the wave and 

 nearly half filled her. But this was in daylight, 

 and I was being followed by a number of boats, 

 so we paid little attention to it, and my boatman 



