THE BOOK OF THE TARPON 



ping overboard in the shallow water, I gently 

 drew the tarpon clear of the water on the sloping 

 shore. 



"Hurrah!" exclaimed the Girl. "I've caught 

 a tarpon! Oh, the beautiful big scales! Can't 

 I have some?" 



"Sure, all you want!" 



"Are you going to kill my tarpon?" 



"You have killed him already. He was your 

 enemy; you have slain him and now you 

 must eat his heart. Then you will inherit his 

 strength and his courage. See 'Indian Myth- 

 ology.' " 



"But he's such a beauty! I don't want him 

 killed." 



"He must die! He wouldn't care to live after 

 you had peeled off his scales and even the ethics 

 of the Camp Fire Club permit the sacrifice of a 

 single specimen. Besides we need him for food 

 and that justifies killing anything." 



When we came to carve the creature we found 

 her possessed of a ten pound roe which we after- 

 wards voted fair food. The fiber of the flesh 

 was coarse and less firm than we would have 

 chosen, but we would have counted it good eat- 



84 



