TALES OF FISHES 



"Look at the leaders," said Captain Dan. "I'll 

 bet they're three-hundred-pound fish." 



I saw then that the school, lazy as they seemed, 

 were slowly folldwing the leaders, rolling and riding 

 the swells. These leaders threw up surges and 

 ridges on the surface. They plowed the water. 



"What 'd happen if we skipped a fljang-fish 

 across the water in front of those leaders?" I asked 

 Captain Dan. 



He threw up his hands. "You'd see a German 

 torpedo explode." 



"Say! tuna are no relation to Huns!" put in my 

 brother. 



It took only a few moments for the school to drift 

 by us. Then we ran over to another school, with 

 the same experience. In this way we visited several 

 of these near-by schools, all of which were com- 

 posed of large tuna. Captain Dan, however, said 

 he believed the first two schools, evidently leaders 

 of this vast sea of tuna, contained the largest fish. 

 For half an hour we fooled around, watching the 

 schools and praying for wind to fly the kite. Cap- 

 tain Dan finally trolled our baits through one school, 

 which sank without rewarding us with a strike. 



At this juncture I saw a tiny speck of a boat way 

 out on the horizon. Captain Dan said it was 

 Shorty's boat with Adams. I suggested that, as we 

 had to wait for wind to fly the kite, we run in and 

 attract Shorty's attention. I certainly wanted 

 some one else to see those magnificent schools of 

 tuna. Forthwith we ran in several miles until we 

 attracted the attention of the boatman Captain Dan 

 had taken to be Shorty. But it turned out to be 



228 



