The Gray Snapper 43 
protest, I fancied, and it was beyond my philoso- 
phy to kill such a rare fighter; so I carefully cut 
out the hook and released my quarry as Paublo 
came running down the beach, grains in hand 
in lieu of gaff-hook. That he questioned my 
sanity I have no doubt, but that was not all. 
“Why, mawster,” he exclaimed, “datcher snap- 
per gwine tell all de res. Yo’ ain’t gwine to git 
no mo’ fishin’ dis day.” Which was true for 
many a day at that spot. 
But I was satisfied. I had outgeneralled and 
caught what must have been a twenty-five-pound 
snapper, at least Paublo, who saw it swimming 
off, placed its weight at nearly twice that figure, 
and when I pressed him for logical reasons for 
his assumption, he said it was “de scales on de 
snapper’s back dun tole him.” 
There may be a difference in the game qualities 
of gray snappers in different localities. The 
deep-water specimens in fifteen or twenty fath- 
oms are caught much easier, and at Marquesas 
and Key West I took them in shallow water 
with crayfish, when sardines or “hard heads” 
were not to be had, but always found them 
thoroughly game. Even the small fishes from 
two to four pounds afforded excellent sport, 
