The Tarpon 227 



waist deep, to save the line. The rush of the 

 tarpon and our erratic movements started a 

 school of large black nurse-sharks, which were 

 sleeping here, into a wild stampede, which threat- 

 ened the line. It was mere good luck that saved 

 the tarpon, that now repeatedly left the water and 

 sprang into the air, a glittering mass of molten 

 silver, in the tropical sun. But foot by foot it 

 was forced up the lagoon, and finally my bait- 

 catcher, wild with excitement, literally threw him- 

 self upon it as I led it into the shallows, grasped 

 it by the gills and dragged it out upon the sands, 

 if not the same fish I had watched the day before, 

 one of equal size, a thing of beauty, a joy forever. 

 It is difficult to convey an adequate idea of the 

 regal splendors of the tarpon to those who have 

 not seen it. Imagine a plain herring or sardine 

 lengthened out six or seven feet. Imagine its 

 scales newly minted silver dollars, frosted instead 

 of stamped, silver dollars which have had the 

 nacre of the whitest pearl in their composition, 

 and some conception may be had of the glories of 

 this radiant creature as the sun's rays flashed upon 

 it, glancing and scintillating in every direction. 

 The fish which lay upon the sands was about six 

 feet in length and weighed possibly one hundred 



