The Tarpon 227 
waist deep, to save the line. The rush of the 
tarpon and our erratic movements started a 
school of large black nurse-sharks, which were 
sleeping here, into a wild stampede, which threat- 
ened the line. It was mere good luck that saved 
the tarpon, that now repeatedly left the water and 
sprang into the air, a glittering mass of molten 
silver, in the tropical sun. But foot by foot it 
was forced up the lagoon, and finally my bait- 
catcher, wild with excitement, literally threw him- 
self upon it as I led it into the shallows, grasped 
it by the gills and dragged it out upon the sands, 
if not the same fish I had watched the day before, 
one of equal size, a thing of beauty, a joy forever. 
It is difficult to convey an adequate idea of the 
regal splendors of the tarpon to those who have 
not seen it. Imagine a plain herring or sardine 
lengthened out six or seven feet. Imagine its 
scales newly minted silver dollars, frosted instead 
of stamped, silver dollars which have had the 
nacre of the whitest pearl in their composition, 
and some conception may be had of the glories of 
this radiant creature as the sun’s rays flashed upon 
it, glancing and scintillating in every direction. 
The fish which lay upon the sands was about six 
feet in length and weighed possibly one hundred 
