THE TARPON AND THE TEMPEST 



"She'd have follered us," he replied, "I've had 

 one chase me half way round the compass." 



"It's coming straight enough for us now!" 



"She'll bust when she strikes shoal water. 

 That'll be in a minute, now I hope," he added 

 anxiously. 



I hoped so, too, and already the end was in 

 sight. The swirling column of water thickened 

 with mud torn from the bottom and I saw, or 

 thought I saw, an area of marked depression out- 

 side of the base of the waterspout. The top be- 

 came more unsteady and the bottom more turbu- 

 lent, while its forward motion ceased and our 

 boat began to widen the distance between us 

 and the monster. 



"There she goes!" shouted the captain, point- 

 ing out a palmetto log as it slid down the in- 

 clined plane of water and plunged into the base 

 of the towering mass. At first the log was lost 

 in the column of water, but as it reached the nar- 

 row part of the hour-glass formation it was 

 thrown crosswise of the column and the water- 

 spout broke in two. 



Great masses of water, crashing from the 

 clouds, tore the surface of the Gulf and the Irene 



