Trailing the Sea-Bai 



urally the presence of these fish excited considerable 

 comment and provoked suggestions as to how they 

 could be taken. On the day before the capture 

 nearly all of the party were at the end of the jet- 

 ties engaged in tarpon, mackerel and sheepshead fish- 

 ing. One of the creatures came near a boat with its 

 mouth open as natural, since it is unable to shut it, 

 and Mr. Cherry, of Sherman, threw his hook into 

 it. In pulling it out it caught on the upper part of 

 the mouth. There was a swish, a whirr of the reel, 

 a convulsive grab for a firmer hold on the rod, a 

 great deal of consternation, a surge of the prow of 

 the boat bottomward and the snap of the line, which 

 was musical to Mr. Cherry and his attendant. 



Butz Metzler, of Dallas, brimful of luck, pulled 

 his line over the back of another with the result of 

 imbedding his tarpon hook in some part of its body. 

 A wail, a sort of wraith wail, went up from the boat 

 which sounded, " I can't stop him." Metzler' s boat 

 went skimming for nearly half a mile, when his boat- 

 man, with rare presence of mind, bethought him of 

 his knife and thus relieved Mr. Metzler and himself 

 from an embarrassing position by severing the line. 

 General Cleary threw his bait and hook over another 

 one of them, with the result of catching a fish, new 

 to these waters. It was said that this fish was riding 

 on the back of the devil-fish, but this story proved to 

 be untrue. Now, when this experience was discussed 

 in the evening it was determined that an effort should 



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