THE BOOK OF THE TARPON 



"I've borrowed it," I called back. "It's agin 

 ethics to kill any but your first tarpon. Better 

 let it go." 



"How can I say I've caught it unless I get it 

 in the boat?" 



"Put your thumb in the corner of its mouth 

 and slide it over the gunwale, only don't get your 

 fingers in its gills, if you've any further use for 

 them." 



The tarpon was slid into the boat as suggested 

 and promptly put over the opposite side. The 

 fisherman trolled till darkness warned him to go 

 home and he said: "Just once more down and 

 back and I'll give it up." 



He was rewarded for his perseverance, for in 

 the last minute the biggest tarpon of the day 

 struck and was safely hooked. The fish was a 

 fighter and in the growing darkness less easy to 

 handle so that more than an hour had passed 

 when the creature yielded. I suggested to my 

 friend that holding the tarpon beside the boat 

 while he measured him would entitle him to claim 

 the capture. 



"I'll count this fish caught when he is in the 

 boat," was the reply to my suggestion. With 



110 



