72 Big Game Fishes 



the boatman says, with a " list," that its big, 

 black, hypnotic eye may follow each move of the 

 flier. The latter has soared nearly two hundred 

 yards and begins to flag ; its tail drops lower and 

 lower, then touches the water to beat it furiously, 

 at which there comes a rush of waters as the 

 tuna attempts to seize its game. But the flying- 

 fish in these few seconds of impact has stored a 

 fresh supply of force, or inertia, and now soars 

 away in a slightly different direction, a foot above 

 the surface, the tuna still beneath it, uncertain 

 whether to leap or to wait until the weary victim 

 shall drop into its maw. It is here that we are 

 treated to the lofty leaps of the tuna. If the 

 latter is swimming deep in the chase, it occasion- 

 ally dashes upward after the soaring fish, often 

 missing it and rising ten or more feet into the 

 air a magnificent spectacle. Attaining its limit 

 it turns gracefully and drops headlong into the 

 sea. I have seen such a fish strike the flying- 

 fish and send it whirling upward like a pinwheel. 

 Again the tuna will seize its prey in mid-air, as 

 will a man-of-war bird. 



While we have been digressing on came the 

 flying-fish, crossing our bait by a lucky chance, 

 or by the strategy of the boatman. We could 



