THE BORDER OF THE GLADES 



" 'Got it!' How could I get anything through 

 two of you ? You ought to have gone overboard 

 or climbed a tree, anything to get out of the way. 

 You kept me from getting a picture of a tarpon 

 climbing a tree. I'll never get such a chance 

 again." 



Soon after re-entering the river I saw a small 

 fish jump near the mouth of a creek on the op- 

 posite side of the stream. I soon found that it 

 was a regular nursery of hungry tarpon. An in- 

 fant rose to every cast and although for a time 

 my luck was bad, I finally hooked the ideal fish 

 for a fly-rod. A perfect tarpon, about eighteen 

 inches long and weighing less than two pounds, 

 made my reel buzz as it darted hither and yon, 

 leaping half a dozen feet in the air several times 

 in a minute. It was the first fish of the kind I 

 had fought in the fashion I liked best, with only 

 the spring of the rod and wrist action. Tiny as 

 the tarpon was, it carried out a hundred feet of 

 line and I almost regretted my resolve not to 

 move or be moved from my station at the mouth 

 of the creek. When at the end of a long struggle 

 I gave the little creature the freedom it had so 

 well earned, my wrists were as tired as after the 



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