THE TARPON SWAMPS US 



boat. But a tarpon lay in wait for me among 

 the oyster reefs and, after he was fast, started 

 back up the river. He was a hard fighter and 

 so erratic in his dashes as he tacked up the stream 

 that every few minutes I had to give him line to 

 keep from capsizing. Though a brilliant per- 

 former, he objected to having his picture taken 

 and would only leap after he had succeeded in 

 stealing some thirty yards of line. 



"Can't you get that fish nearer the canoe?" 

 shouted the Camera-man. "How can I photo- 

 graph you when you're a mile apart?" 



"I'll take him inside the canoe, if you want," 

 I replied, though I had no notion of doing it. 



I hauled on the line till the fish was twice his 

 length from me and was trying to hold him there 

 when the creature dived till the line ran straight 

 down. Then it loosened and like an arrow 

 from a bow something shot up from the depths, 

 dashing gallons of water in my face as it passed. 

 I couldn't look up, but I wondered what would 

 happen. Just as I concluded that this tarpon, 

 like the last, had cleared the canoe in his fall, the 

 craft gave a twist, a roll, and plunged me 

 shoulder first, beneath the surface! 



151 



