Tarpon Fishing m Florida. 43 



to make a fool of oneself if one feels so inclined. Someone 

 immediately held that it was hy no means necessary for me to wait 

 till I jilay picquet, and we played in li^ht and airy attire on the 

 veranda. Nor was I a serious loser when we lelt tor New 

 \'ork. Our tloatinj^ home was very comfortable. A row of 

 cabins on each side of the boat, a dining room between them, at 

 one end a veranda, at the other a kitchen and a bathroom. We 

 did not bathe as each of us had a decided {^reference in favour ot 

 returning to our respective homes in toto ; and neither the genius 

 of a Portia nor all the gold of Venice would induce the Shylock 

 of the sea to forego one ounce of what he could get. 



This bathroom was therefore popular, and besides it forced 

 us to begin the day with ten minutes' hard pumping. All round 

 outside ran a very narrow balcony about two feet above the water. 

 Our cabins and the veranda were well fortified against the ever 

 inquisitive mosquito by doors and screens of fine mesh wire gauze, 

 which served as a most efficient air filter, and the few mosquitoes 

 who did manage to get through were not the most fortunate ot 

 their species, as directly they were in sufficient to force merit our 

 attention, they found a smoky grave. 



We were anchored in the middle of what looked like; a huge 

 lake, five miles from the Captiva Pass and four miles from the 

 famous Boca Grande Pass, but we could in no direction see the 

 open sea. Attached to our stern were four row-boats and a small 

 motor launch, which served to get our letters and food— though 

 fortunately it was not our only source of supply — and to tow us 

 and our small boats out to the Boca Grande Pass. This tunc 

 profiting by former experience, I was well set up as regards 



