Big Game at Sea 



There were five anglers on the waiting list eager for 

 the fray, so to be fair I handed the line to the Doctor, 

 who promptly was jerked down, his arms beneath the 

 water. About two minutes satisfied him, and he 

 passed the line along to the banker, who performed 

 duty heroically; then the Judge took his turn. All 

 the while Joe lay back and enjoyed the agonies of 

 the anglers unused in the main to such a " beastie." 



I do not recall who had the honor of landing this 

 bass, but I am confident that it gave sport and anguish 

 to at least five men. I had always supposed that this 

 fish weighed three hundred and forty-seven pounds 

 and had so entered it in my angling diary, about like 

 this: 



"June 30, caught one jewfish; weight, three hun- 

 dred forty-seven pounds; length, six feet seven 

 inches " (with no mention of the rest of the angling 

 syndicate) . I found later, not only did the rest do the 

 same, but some claimed to have caught the fish single- 

 handed. Years after it happened I recalled the catch 

 to a member of the party and the weight, three hun- 

 dred forty-seven pounds. 



" You are wrong about the weight of that fish," 

 he said; "it was five hundred pounds." Which 

 shows that my memory is treacherous; it was five 

 hundred pounds, and its length must have been eight 

 or more feet. To this day I hardly see how I could 

 have landed, single-handed, so gigantic a fish. Mex- 

 ican Joe still lives, and the catch was made over 



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