The Tarpon 243 



in which he swore to the double weight, the 

 evident fact that he convinced himself that he 

 was right, were all delightful features in these 

 fishing days when records were not thought of. 

 I once caught with his aid a three-hundred-and- 

 fifty-pound jewfish and frequently told the story. 

 After several years I met Billy, and in his pres- 

 ence related the experience ; but when I men- 

 tioned the weight, his face assumed an expression 

 of surprise. "Why, sir," he said, "you forget, 

 sir, that I weighed that fish, and it weighed five 

 hundred pounds, sir," this so seriously that no 

 one could hold out against it; doubtless it was 

 five hundred pounds, and I was mistaken. This 

 boatman was an Irishman, a second Paddy Farrell 

 of Kinsale, whose angling lines have made John 

 Lander famous in the annals of angling poetry. 

 You will remember that Paddy thus writes to 

 his friend Thady Mullowny and beseeches him 

 to come down and try the fish of Kinsale, send- 

 ing him a hake through the mail as a sample 

 of the big fish then biting: 



" We've a choice set of books for the student who wise is, 



The eel of true science to seize by the tail ; 

 At all seasons a skate you can have where no ice is, 

 Or a sinecure plaice you may get at Kinsale." 



