THE BOOK OF THE TARPON 



on the brake the fish responded by shooting out 

 of the water fully two hundred feet away. The 

 drag of the canoe was nothing to the tarpon 

 which took the inside course down the bay for 

 Captiva Pass. He passed Mondongo and was 

 opposite Joseppi when he changed his mind and 

 turned back toward the Big Pass. 



I could do nothing to check the fish, for when- 

 ever I took in line I brought the canoe nearer 

 the tarpon and started him off afresh. Gaily 

 he traveled, with occasional frisky leaps in the 

 air, for he was outward bound and rejoiced in 

 the trouble preparing for us. When he reached 

 Boca Grande Pass the fish started to cross it, 

 heading straight for the lighthouse on its north- 

 ern side. 



The waves had doubled in size since we struck 

 the tarpon, for the tide had turned and the piled 

 up waters of Charlotte Harbor from Pine Is- 

 land to Punta Gorda and from Gasparilla to 

 Captiva were scurrying back to the Gulf of 

 Mexico by way of the Big Pass. Our course was 

 in the trough of the sea, and I had to reduce the 

 strain on the line that the canoe might quarter 

 the crested billows. Higher rose the waves as 



48 



