DAY OF THE CAMP-FIRE MAN 



pounds of tarpon over the gunwale. We had 

 held aloof during the game but now ran beside 

 the victor. By way of a sportsman's accolade I 

 touched his shoulders with a scale plucked from 

 his trophy and thrust it in his hat band to be 

 honorably worn till the sun went down. 



"Wasn't it glorious? There never was so 

 beautiful a fish. I wish you could have seen the 

 drops of water sparkle in the sunshine when he 

 shook his head and the way his silvery scales 

 glistened as he turned in the air! Did you ever 

 see such a jump as that first one?" 



I assured him that it was very extraordinary 

 and advised him to get busy with another one. 

 Within half an hour two more tarpon struck the 

 bait, both throwing hook and mullet fifty feet in 

 the air on their first jumps. They must have 

 notified their friends that mullet were bad medi- 

 cine for, though tarpon were jumping around us, 

 not one touched the bait for two hours. Then a 

 fifty-pound baby tarpon was brought to the fish- 

 ing boat after it had leaped high out of the water 

 nearly a score of times in about as many min- 

 utes. 



"Where is that gaff?" shouted my friend. 

 109 



