The Gray Snapper 41 



times, turning to scrutinize it, and failing to see 

 it, returning to the bait, swimming about it again 

 and again, a picture of grace and buoyant life. 

 Now it deliberately approached and nosed the 

 lure, lifting the " hard heads " slightly as though 

 searching for the hook; then it swam away, to 

 my despair, and joined the complacent school 

 which poised and circled gracefully near by. But 

 a vigorous movement imparted to the line sum- 

 moned the snapper again, and with a single low 

 rush of eight or ten feet, it seized the bait, which 

 it shook as might an angry dog, and rose slowly, 

 with fins en charge, while I overran the line. 

 Higher it swam, rising slowly into the empyrean 

 of the waters ; then with a sudden gulp it at- 

 tempted to swallow the bait, felt the wire, and 

 charged the blue waters of the channel to the 

 melody of the reel, that, like the baying hound 

 on fresh scent, repays the hunter for hours of 

 weary waiting. 



The rush was out and away into the deep blue 

 heart of the channel, every other snapper disap- 

 pearing at the charge ; and fifty or sixty feet of 

 line were lost before I stopped the fish. Then 

 it was a battle to the finish, with finesse, cunning, 

 and wariness on the part of the game. I appre- 



