THE BOOK OF THE TARPON 



and across the river and after an hour's struggle 

 were well out in the bay, yet at all times we had 

 kept within at least two hundred feet of our 

 quarry. 



Always we feared the tarpon's getting too far 

 away. Sometimes the danger was of its coming 

 too near and more than once it sprang at us with 

 wide open jaws, falling short of the canoe by 

 inches only, and once it sprang fairly against 

 the captain, nearly capsizing the craft. 



The sport of fishing is in inverse ratio to the 

 size of the tackle compared with the activity, 

 strength, and weight of the fish. Linus Yale, as 

 skilful with trout as he was ingenious with locks, 

 used to hitch his horse to a tree by a mountain 

 brook near his New England home and forget 

 for the day the anxieties of the inventor and the 

 burdens of the manufacturer. All trouble was 

 left behind as he constructed a line from hairs in 

 his horse's tail, attached a hook of his own forg- 

 ing, tinier than was ever made before, with an al- 

 most microscopic fly, and with a reed-like rod, 

 made on the ground, captured the wariest trout 

 in the brook. When with this flimsy tackle he 

 landed a trout of large size he rejoiced more 



134 



