The Tarpon 267 



bent into a bow, and on his knees, holding on to 

 a tuna which was somewhere down in the deep 

 channel. The fisherman's face was red, the veins 

 stood out upon it like cords, and perspiration 

 rained down. " Ze man who invented zis tunare 

 fishing, he ought to be in zee jail," he cried. 

 "Come and take me off heem, will you? For 

 hours I have heem ; he take my fingare nail, he 

 take my skin ; he take me next. Zis is not fish- 

 ing, zis is Hades." 



The Frenchman would not allow his boatman 

 to interfere, as he thought he had a record fish, and 

 he had been trying for hours to reel it in ; when 

 it did come up, through the efforts of my boat- 

 man and myself, and was found to weigh but 

 eighty pounds, the woe and rage of that French- 

 man passed all understanding. 



The angler at Aransas Pass will find the cus- 

 tom holds of towing the fish to the beach a 

 most laborious habit and unnecessary if the boat- 

 man has a large wide-beamed boat, when the 

 largest tarpon can be held at the rail, the hook 

 dislodged, or the game killed and taken aboard 

 with ease by a boatman who understands his 

 business. A green hand, or a nervous man, 

 should be avoided, as such an one will lose his 



