THETARPON 51 



ing, rowing and backing, the fish always playing 

 us. Presently, for sport's sake, we were per- 

 mitted to reel in a while, and then a huge head, a 

 tarpon head, emerged from the water, as if to say 

 4 1 show you your mistake; I am not a shark/ 



"Instantly, my craving to escape became a mad 

 passion to capture. Placing the rod's butt under 

 the cushion on my boat seat, I grasped it well 

 forward and pumped, throwing my whole body 

 weight onto the leverage; pumped myself breath- 

 less, straining arms and back to the utmost. And 

 every now and then the fish would make a far 

 reach up or down the canal, just to put my efforts 

 to ridicule. Once it leaped, not a fair, free jump, 

 but a lunge sideways, half out of water. The 

 boatman was again the spokesman: 'Es grande, 

 grande!' he exclaimed. I was getting past the 

 period of calculation. I saw men on the shore 

 watching us with interest ; I saw the two oil tanks 

 that stand on either bank, yet I realized nothing 

 but the tense struggle for supremacy between one 

 end of my line over the other. The fight lasted 

 over an hour and seemed interminable. At length 

 there was evidence of weakening on my adver- 

 sary's part, and I finally was able to get the fish 

 up to the double line and lift its head to the 

 water's surface. Then the fish gradually lost its 

 aggressiveness and became a dead weight. We 

 turned to the river so as to land on the sandy 

 beach around the point. One last run it made as 

 we struck the river, then gave up the struggle. 



