The Groupers 217 
swifter than the huge jewfish, so I baited a suit- 
able line with a living yellowtail and cast it over 
into one of the “gulfs enchanted” which I could 
plainly see. The bait was very active, and made 
a brave showing with its vivid gold and silver 
tints, and as it sank slowly, struggling, something 
like a great shadow came out of the depths, and 
the next instant I was dragged down flat into 
the stern, and the line was hissing, leaping 
over the rail like a living thing. So fierce was 
the rush, so vigorous the onslaught, that for a 
few seconds I lost the line, and when I did grasp 
it, Chief had cast off the buoyed anchor and we 
were away behind as lively a steed as one would 
wish. 
“ Man-eater shark, sa’,” grunted the Seminole, 
sententiously, but he had not seen it. I had, and 
it was either a jewfish or some fish new in my 
experience. 
But no jewfish ever looked so dark and black 
as did this mystery that turned and towed us 
directly out to sea. And as the water deepened 
rapidly, we were shortly off bottom with the fish 
directly beneath us, towing the clinker-built boat 
so swiftly that she had not one, but two bones 
in her teeth. It was only after much exertion 
