Big Game at Sea 



on," as Paublo expressed it; now gaming a foot, again 

 slipping back, hauling, straining every muscle, slowly 

 but surely forcing the light boat upon the fish to the 

 accompanying shouts of Paublo and Chief " ah ho 

 ah," "ah he ho," "all together now," "ah ho!" 

 Then would come a rush; the line would smoke 

 through our fingers for ten or twenty feet, and we 

 would lie back until the flurry seemed to die away to 

 haul again. 



For some time we worked in this way, until I esti- 

 mated that the fish was not more than twenty feet 

 away, and had crawled out on to the little deck to 

 peer down into the water, when the line rapidly rose, 

 then turned so sharply to the left that I was nearly 

 thrown overboard. The Seminole, who was in the 

 stern, grasped an oar and aided in hauling the boat 

 around; but she yawed and careened so that the 

 water poured in; then the fish appeared at the sur- 

 face forty feet away, its wing waving in the air like 

 the black piratical flag it was, perhaps in derision, 

 perhaps in defiance, then disappeared. The fish 

 had turned the keeled boat in little more than its 

 length and was now towing us directly back to the 

 lagoon a proceeding more than satisfactory, as a 

 storm was rapidly coming, and if caught we would 

 have to cut away; so we sat with a turn of the line 

 about the thwart on the alert for any move. Steam 

 could hardly have towed us faster; we flew through 

 the water throwing clouds of spray over the deck, 



12 



