THE BOOK OF THE TARPON 



who cares nothing how he gets his game, so that 

 he gets it. He will explain to you that the deli- 

 cacy and skill displayed in the capture of his 

 game and the odds against which he contends 

 constitute the test of true sportsmanship. His 

 test is all right, but he doesn't apply it. To him 

 tarpon fishing is a specialized sport, and he has 

 paid his outfitter roundly for the conventional 

 tools. To think now for himself would be 

 futile as exploring the fourth dimension, or but- 

 ting against syndicated government and stand- 

 ardized graft. 



There is much sport in conventional tarpon 

 fishing, but it is the joy of the outdoors, the 

 pleasure of scenery and surroundings, and the 

 picturesque fight against fate which the tarpon 

 puts up. The sportsman, in his cushioned re- 

 volving chair, does nothing that a properly con- 

 structed wooden man couldn't do as well, and 

 any good mechanic could devise a combination 

 of cogs and springs that would beat him out of 

 sight. 



But the machine that hunts with a harpoon 

 must be a machine that thinks. The hunter who 

 successfully stalks a deer through the forest, or 



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