A Little Miss and a Big Fish 



body, and oh, joy ! the fish was turning. Daddy rowed 

 slowly to keep up with him, while I kept a steady 

 bend to the rod. Laura looked at her watch and 

 told the time. Who cared about time, except to know 

 how long that fish would play me? 



Boats had begun to collect at a respectful distance, 

 and fishermen were trolling the ground where we had 

 hooked our monster. The fish now turned toward this 

 audience and started his splendid bulk straight along 

 the boat. I could see the hooked mouth wide open, 

 the line reaching straight into it. And then a finny 

 tail, forked in the middle, where it joined the body as 

 large as a five-inch stovepipe, hit the boat a mighty 

 blow and then all was gone. My sister, sitting in the 

 stern, just where the tail hit the boat, went dead white, 

 and her eyes grew as big as saucers. She didn't seem 

 to notice the spray with which she was drenched, nor 

 that the boat rocked and tossed and cavorted over the 

 waves created by the break of the big fish. She drew 

 in a deep breath, and then shakily to Daddy, " How 

 big is he?" 



I could see Daddy's eyes shine as he said, " I have 

 caught many a fish, but glory! there was never a fish 

 like that. He weighs about seventy pounds." Both 

 Laura and I, who had caught fish under his tutelage, 

 and had had them weighed for us while we were still 

 battling them, with only a few ounces variance when 



133 



