CHAPTER XVI 



I FANCY it has been the experience of every 

 angler to equip and start with the best of 

 intentions for some fond stream of the memory, 

 and then stray away into other fields totally 

 foreign. I had for some years been accumulat- 

 ing information, alas, not merit, relating to the 

 streams of Texas, and had purposed, with the 

 aid and counsel of one of its devout anglers, 

 Dr. Vilas of El Paso, to follow up some of its 

 streams into the high mountains and investigate 

 some of the big fish I had more than once seen 

 in the Pecos. But in some way the fates inter- 

 fered, and to-day, after three or four visits to 

 the big State, an empire in its vastness, all I 

 can tell about its angling at first hand is that 

 of the little pass of Aransas where my name is 

 pinned to the wall in the local Hall of Fame 

 on several tarpon scales. I can still see those 

 Maverick tarpon climbing into the air over my 

 shoulder, and up among the constellations, and 

 among my fond desires is to return to these 

 happy hunting grounds along the great inland 



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