HUNTING WITH A HARPOON 



chance and how could you miss so brilliant and 

 big a mark? 



Perhaps your knees tremble a little and your 

 heart thumps a good deal. Mine always do, and 

 that is why I like to hunt tarpon with a har- 

 poon. I don't get half as excited over an in- 

 terview with a member of the deer family or 

 even a black bear. Of course, grizzlies are an- 

 other thing, because grizzlies are different. 



Better go slow with that tarpon. It looks 

 large, but the really vulnerable part for your 

 harpoon isn't much bigger than the back of an 

 unabridged dictionary, and you couldn't hit that 

 with a harpoon at thirty feet once in ten times. 

 Try it on the grass at a stick of wood, and you 

 will be convinced. I never met but three men 

 who, with reasonable certainty, under the condi- 

 tions named, could strike a tarpon at thirty feet, 

 and of these three two are dead. 



Your tarpon is nearer now, twenty-five, twen- 

 ty-four, twenty-three feet. Yes! I know just 

 how hard it is to wait, but stand your ground! 

 When you do throw, hold your right hand well 

 back toward the butt end of the pole, aim a little 

 high, and as the pole leaves your hand give the 



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