SOME RARE FISH 



unable to keep a strain upon him. I had no idea 

 what kind of a fish it was. And Sam likewise 

 was nonplussed. 



I was not sure the fish tired -quickly, for I was 

 so excited I had no thought of time, but it did not 

 seem very long before I had him within fifty yards, 

 sweeping in wide half-circles back of the boat. 

 Occasionally I saw a broad, bright-green flash. 

 When I was sure he was slowing up I put on the 

 other drag and drew him closer. Then in the clear 

 water we saw a strange, wild, graceful fish, the like 

 of which we had never beheld. He was long, slen^ 

 der, yet singularly round and muscular. His color 

 appeared to be blue, green, silver crossed by bars. ^ 

 His tail was big like that of a tuna, and his head 

 sharper, more wolfish than a barracuda. He had a 

 long, low, straight dorsal fin. We watched him 

 swimming slowly to and fro beside the boat, and 

 we speculated upon his species. But all I could 

 decide was that I had a rare specimen for my 

 collection. 



Sam was just as averse to the use of the gaff as 

 I was. I played the fish out completely before Sam 

 grasped the leader, pulled him close, lifted him in, 

 and laid him down — a glistening, quivering, wonder- 

 ful fish nearly six feet long. 



He was black opal blue; iridescent silver under- 

 neath; pale blue dorsal; dark-blue fins and copper- 

 bronze tail, with bright bars down his body. 



I took this thirty-six pound fish to be a sea-roe, a 

 game fish lately noticed on the Atlantic seaboard. 

 But I was wrong. One old conch fisherman who 

 had been around the Keys for forty years had never 



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