124 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



loses his fish at the first jump. Not five minutes 

 later he is fast in a second before anyone else has 

 a touch, and this time the fish jumps twice, the 

 second jump very near my boat, and his coloured 

 guide, as smart a boy as any of them, sets his 

 powerful shoulders to the work of pulling for the 

 beach. 



What was that ? My eye is back on my own 

 rod. The merest twitch ; a tremor that could have 

 been caused by a roach, but that has not escaped 

 the watchful eye of Underbill, my guide, who 

 whispers to me to look out. I do, and next 

 moment the twitch comes again, and I strike again 

 and again, jambing the hook home in the hard 

 mouth at the other end with all the strength I have. 

 Then line flies off the reel at such a pace that I am 

 able to slip the butt in the rest and wait results. 



"Make him jump!" sings a wag from a neigh- 

 bouring boat, and indeed, before I have any say in 

 the matter, up go five or six feet of molten silver in 

 the sunshine, and back comes the line, hook and 

 all, as the tarpon falls free. 



" Bad luck ! " comes from the " Gee Whiz," 

 and — 



" Oh, help!" and the occupant nearly drops his 

 monocle as an immense tarpon dashes out of the 

 water half-way between us, and his reel sings 

 murder. Without much fuss the fish puts fifty, then 

 a hundred yards between them, giving three more 

 splendid jumps between. That looks like the fish 

 of the year, and off goes " Gee Whiz " into the 

 middle distance and out of my thoughts, for there 

 is a fresh bait on my hook and I have other fish to 

 fry. When I next encounter " Gee Whiz," the 



