SOME RARE FISH 



fish a long way in the water and I surely was alert. 

 But some time elapsed and we had poled to within 

 a few rods of the mangroves before I really caught 

 sight of our coveted quarry. Then I saw five bone- 

 fish, two of them large, between the boat and the 

 mangroves. 'They were motionless. Somehow the 

 sight of them was thrilling. They looked wary, 

 cunning, game, and reminded me of gray wolves 

 I had seen on the desert. Suddenly they vanished. 

 It was incredible the way they disappeared. When 

 we got up to the place where they had been there 

 were the little swirls in the roiled water. 



Then Sam sighted two more bonefish that flashed 

 away too swiftly for me to see. We stuck an oar 

 down in the mud and anchored the boat. It seemed 

 absolutely silly to fish in water a foot deep. But 

 I meant to try it. Putting a crab on my hook, I 

 cast off ten or a dozen yards, and composed myself 

 to rest and watch- 



CertairJy I expected no results. But it was at- 

 tractive there. The wide flat stretched away, bor- 

 dered by the rich, dark mangroves. Cranes and 

 pelicans were fishing off the shoals, and outside rip- 

 pled the green channel, and beyond that the dark- 

 blue sea. The sun shone hot. There was scarcely 

 any perceptible breeze. All this would have been 

 enjoyable and fruitful if there had not been a fish 

 within a mile. 



Almost directly I felt a very faint vibration of my 

 line. I waited, expectantly, thinking that I might 

 be about to have a bite. But the line slackened and 

 nothing happened. 



There were splashes all around us and waves and 



147 



