CHAPTER XXIV 



THE MARIPOSAS 



"There we sit 

 For a bit 

 Till we fish entangle." 



WALTON. Piscator's Song. 



AMONG the fishes of semi-tropical America 

 there are many which are passed by with indif- 

 ference by anglers for the very good reason that 

 their limited time is wholly occupied with tarpon 

 and the larger game. To know them all and 

 know them well, it is necessary to spend the hot 

 months of summer in the haunts where they are 

 at their best. It was my fortune for several 

 years to have the midsummer fishing on the ex- 

 treme outer Florida reef the land of the "tin 

 cow " and the roaring nineties, where the heat at 

 times was intolerable, and only cheerfully faced 

 by youth or the most ardent lover of sport. I 

 see the long stretch of water, the green-capped 

 keys lying on its surface like gems, the clumps 

 of graceful cocoa palms, through which the wind 



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