The Jack 167 
this remarkable scene of carnage, to revel in 
which, gulls, pelicans, and man-of-war birds 
were now gathering from all over the reef. For 
ten or fifteen minutes the extraordinary spec- 
tacle was continued, until the low beach was 
lined with jacks, dead and dying; then the school 
drew off as suddenly as it had appeared, leav- 
ing the long, sinuous red stain to tell the 
story. 
This, I learned, was the method of feeding 
most in vogue among jacks in this region. The 
school, composed of thousands, would sweep in 
from the gulf, follow up the narrow blue chan- 
nels, the veins of the reef, and when a school 
of sardines was sighted, drive it bodily inshore, 
losing all sense of danger or fear in the wild 
excitement of the “beating.” The remarkable 
leaps of the jacks, their quickness, evident 
strength, and agility, suggested a new field for 
the rod, nor was I disappointed. The school 
had left the lagoon, turned the point of the 
key, and was evidently now in the channel, 
where I found it the following day, and enjoyed 
sport that comes rarely in the experience of 
the angler, which even here could not always 
be counted upon, as the schools were constantly 
