The Halibut 361 



and unconventional position. I had hooked the 

 sockdolliger before a witness who had proclaimed 

 it on the high seas, and I readily understood why 

 he was so anxious to take the line, he wished the 

 credit. His argument that it might be a five- 

 hundred-pound fish, which would be valuable to 

 him, and that he knew just how to manage " such 

 critters," fell on deaf ears. I had chartered the 

 craft and skipper, the sockdolliger was my pre- 

 rogative, and I ordered the envious boatman to 

 haul in the float anchor, and taking my place in 

 the stern of the dory prepared to land the fish if it 

 took all summer. It is unnecessary to go into the 

 details of this experience, needless to say that the 

 fish plunged to the bottom again ; it had come to 

 the surface merely to " size me up," and had re- 

 turned satisfied that it was merely a question of 

 time with me. I had lifted sulking turtles on the 

 Florida reef ; had toiled with the big sunfish, side 

 on ; had labored with rays from the manta down ; 

 and had lifted seeming tons of coral when fishing 

 for red snappers in the Gulf ; but all these "sulkers" 

 seemed combined in this mighty fish, which moved 

 slowly on, taking line foot by foot with such regu- 

 larity that I began to realize that it was tipping 

 over the side of some submarine hill and going 



