14 Recreations of a Sportsman 



Every once in a while he would shout, " I 've got 

 him up again ! " then I would creep up, throw 

 off the clutch, and try to watch them. Presently 

 the scream of the reel would come down the 

 wind, telling that the fish was away again. 

 Fifteen or sixteen times this fish was brought 

 alongside, and as many times Mexican Joe 

 handled his gaff and dropped it again, to seize 

 the oars and back the skiff after it. 



No angler ever took greater chances, or played 

 a big fish better than did Pinchot that night, as 

 the channel is a treacherous one, and the con- 

 ditions not all that one would wish. Sudden 

 fogs, high winds, heavy seas, extraordinary cur- 

 rents, are some of the conditions, and a break- 

 down of my launch more than possible, as what 

 I do not know about gasolene engines would 

 make a large and comfortable volume, due to a 

 certain disinterestedness on my part, for ma- 

 chinery, or mechanics. And when I was helms- 

 man and engineer of the Lionore that night, I 

 knew how to throw off the clutch, and stop her, 

 how to back, and how to start, and I confined 

 myself to this exclusively; kept my right hand 

 on the wheel, where I was at home, my left on 

 the lever where I was very much at sea, and 

 that I continually backed when I intended to go 

 ahead, was but an incident in the game. 



I had it all to myself, as I had stationed the 

 boy Joaquin in the bow to aid me in keeping 



