58 WHERE, WHEN, AND HOW TO CATCH FISH 



know, none of the party ever asked Uncle Henry to corroborate the 

 story. I had slight doubts, however, about the not-grounding part 

 of the story, as I had been over the route many times. 



After writing Capt. Bravo's Pompano story I wrote him asking 

 permission to publish the same, and received reply from which I will 

 quote. The captain, in his modest way, is rather inclined to give 

 Mr. Flagler the full credit for telling that Pompano story, but says he 

 will vouch for it, and then goes on as follows, viz : " When I first came 

 to Indian River the people there told me fish were so plenty that they 

 need do no fishing at all ; all they had to do was to put a lantern in 

 the boat and anchor it out ; go to it in the morning and it would 

 have all the fish in it they wanted. 



" I worked for Mr. Flagler as captain on one of his steamers on 

 Indian River for two years. During that time I fed the officers and 

 crew of said steamer, and got so much per day for doing so. Now, 

 if I got my fish for nothing it would be quite a saving to me, because 

 everybody wanted Pompano, and Pompano was a high-priced fish. 

 So when I got below Eden I called all the crew on and ran the 

 steamer across the shoal, when the Pampanos, being frightened, 

 started to jump onto the steamer. I have caught as many as eighty 

 going across one shoal. 



" Now, I believe any fish story anybody tells me after living on 

 Indian River five years ; but one day I had a passenger from the 

 Columbia River, Oregon. I was showing him the great quantities of 

 fish we had in Indian River, and told him some pretty strong stories 

 that had been told to me. It did not seem to surprise him at all, 

 like it did most tenderfeet, so he says to me, ' on the Columbia 

 River, where I come from, we have salmon. I have looked at a 

 school coming down the river, acres of them, and that is the greatest 

 sight in the world. Sometimes, he said, one of them would jump 

 out and when he fell back there would be no place for him but to fall 

 on top of the school and die there.' I believe his story, though it is 

 a hard one. I could continue telling some incidents in the fish line 

 indefinitely, but I will close." 



The captain said nothing in his letter about his statement, in his 

 first Pompano story, that the "Santa Lucia" did not get aground 

 that night. I may swallow his fish stories, but when he tells me he 

 navigated the "Santa Lucia" into Jupiter Narrows without getting 

 aground, I have, at least, faint doubts. I will say, however, that a fish 



