THE BOOK OF THE TARPON 



most within reach of my hand. I hardly 

 breathed while the animal filled its lungs, with its 

 little eye fixed on me. Instead of dashing away 

 with a snort of fear and in a swirl of water that 

 might have swamped our craft, the creature sank 

 quietly beneath the surface and swam slowly up 

 the river, followed by his mate and a tiny mana- 

 tee calf. I had never before seen so fearless a 

 sea-cow and I seriously wondered if we were old 

 acquaintances, for I had studied the species for 

 years and turned many a specimen loose after 

 playing with it in the water till it seemed tame. 



There seemed little chance to play a tarpon, 

 even if one could be induced to strike, but I put 

 out a troll to see what would happen. In a few 

 minutes I felt a tug on the line, followed by the 

 always beautiful leap of a tarpon thirty yards 

 behind the canoe. The next jump was a long, 

 low one, up through a solid bed of water hya- 

 cinths and down among the same a score of feet 

 away. The scene that followed was worth the 

 high price of a tarpon line and that is just what 

 it cost. Each water hyacinth is in substance a 

 beautiful bubble from which tiny roots stream in 

 long tentacles. The floating flowers held up the 



116 



