HUNTING WITH A HARPOON 



a low-hanging branch. Then I paid out line and 

 called to the boatman to hurry, while he worked 

 like mad to free the craft. 



Often the fish was two turns in the creek 

 ahead of us, with the line running against snags 

 and through the branches of trees. Each in- 

 stant there was danger of fouling the line, and 

 once, when the fish was swimming through a 

 tangle of brush, a nickel would have bought that 

 tarpon. But the creature was considerate, and 

 waited under an overhanging bank until we had 

 cleared up the tangle. This was our last trouble 

 for the creek soon widened, straightened, and 

 opened into Broad River just below the bay of 

 that name. The tarpon was as tired as we, and 

 after a short run in the bay and two or three 

 jumps that hardly lifted it above the surface, 

 rolled over on its side and was taken into the 

 skiff. 



If you talk to a fisherman of high degree, of 

 hunting tarpon with a harpoon, he will scoff at 

 you and accuse you of being unsportsmanlike, 

 both you and your methods. He may compare 

 you with the poacher who spears his salmon by 

 the light of a jack, or with the market hunter 



31 



