TALES OF FISHES 



in plain sight, he took the bait, as a trout might have 

 taken a grasshopper. Slowly he sank. The line be- 

 gan to slip off the reel. He ceased to be a bright 

 purple mass — grew dim — ^then vague — and disap- 

 peared. 



I sat down, jammed the rod in the socket, and got 

 ready. For the life of me I could not steady my legs. 



"What '11 he weigh?" I gasped. 



"O Lord! he looked twice as big as the big one 

 you got," replied Dan. 



"Stand by with the cameras!" I said to my com- 

 panions, and as they lined up, two on one side and 

 one on the other, I began to strike at that fish with 

 all my might and main. I must have had at least 

 twelve powerful strikes before he began to wake up. 



Then! 



He came up, throwing the water in angry spouts. 

 If he did not threaten the boat I was crazy. He 

 began an exhibition that dwarfed any other I had 

 seen, and it was so swift that I could scarcely fol- 

 low him. Yet when I saw the line rise, and then 

 the wonderful, long, shiny body, instinct with fury, 

 shoot into the air, I yelled the number of the leap, 

 and this was the signal for the camera-workers. 

 They held the cameras close, without trying to focus, 

 facing the fish, and they snapped when I yeUed. 

 It was all gloriously exciting. I could never de- 

 scribe that exhibition. I only know that he leaped 

 clear forty-six times, and after a swift, hard hovir 

 for me he got away. Strangely, I was almost happy 

 that he had shaken loose, for he had given such re- 

 markable opportunities for pictures. 



Captain Dan threw the wheel hard over and the 



50 



