BIG TUNA 



but never had I felt such thrills, such tingling nerves, 

 such oppression on my chest, such a wild, eager 

 rapture. It would have been impossible, notwith- 

 standing my emotional temperament, if the leading 

 up to this moment had not included so much long- 

 sustained feeling. 



"Jump your bait!" called Dan, with a ring in his 

 voice. "In two jumps you'U be in the tail-enders." 



I jerked my rod. The bait gracefully leaped over 

 a swell — shot along the surface, and ended with a 

 splash. Again I jerked. As the bait rose into the 

 air a huge angry splash burst just under it, and a 

 broad-backed tuna lunged and turned clear over, 

 his tail smacking the water. 



"Jump it!" yelled Dan. 



Before I could move, a circling smash of white 

 surrounded my bait. I heard it. With aU my 

 might I jerked. Strong and heavy came the weight 

 of the tuna. I had hooked him. With one solid 

 thumping splash he sounded. Here was test for line 

 and test for me. I could not resist one turn of the 

 thumb-wheel, to ease the drag. He went down 

 with the same old incomparable speed. I 'saw the 

 kite descending. Dan threw out the clutch — ^ran 

 to my side. The reel screamed. Every tense sec- 

 ond, as the line whizzed off, I expected it to break. 

 There was no joy, no sport in that painful watching. 

 He ran off two hundred feet, then, marvelous to see, 

 he slowed up. The kite was still high, pulling hard. 

 What with kite and drag and friction of line in the 

 water, that tuna had great strain upon him. He 

 ran off a little more, slower this time, then stopped. 

 The kite began to flutter. 



243 



