The Man Behind the Angler 



rail to rail ; yet upright, trembling like a living thing, 

 she went speeding on the crest of the wave, until 

 her very weight stopped her amid the wreckage of the 

 big sea which swept over us, rolling us over into the 

 sandy lagoon in three feet of water. 



It has been my luck, good or bad, to land in heavy 

 surf on various occasions where the outlook was omi- 

 nous, but in all my experience I never met a man 

 who had the peculiar quality of courage possessed by 

 this silent boatman, the clever fisherman who gaffed 

 many a big fish for me on the outer reef. Later I 

 watched him with Long John go out through this 

 channel in a half hurricane to a ship which was 

 almost on the reef, which by their skill was brought 

 in. I considered it a clear case of suicide, yet they 

 boarded her by taking a rope from the spanker boom 

 and were hauled aboard, losing their boat; yet the 

 instance was not considered worthy of talking about. 

 Men in any other region would have had medals from 

 several humane societies. 



Bob Rand, while as brave a man as ever lived, 

 was a whimsical character in many ways, and ulti- 

 mately went down before strong drink; the man that 

 had taken a thousand chances to help his mates in 

 gales on this lonely reef, was, in the succinct language 

 of Bunsby, killed by " John Barleycorn," his wife, 

 unfortunately being addicted to the same habit. 

 When she died I went down with some sympathetic 

 ladies to see what could be done, but Bob utterly 



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