134 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



tion of its apparent strength is that the fish is not 

 hooked, not even foul-hooked, but the snell has 

 made a running noose around the tail, the hook 

 being fast in a link of the chain. The result is that 

 the fish has been able to fight with its strength un- 

 impaired, and I am at a loss indeed to understand 

 its sudden collapse. 



The bait is not touched and is soon down again, 

 and next moment I strike hard at a nibble, but, 

 after a momentary hitch, it comes away, and on the 

 hook I find impaled a beautifully shaped little 

 tarpon, scale no more than an inch across. This, I 

 find, is so rare an experience that only one or two 

 similar cases are recalled by the veteran of the 

 party. To him all eyes are now drawn by a shout 

 of friendly derision — I never realised how friendly 

 derision could be until I had fished at Boca 

 Grande — as he is seen playing something heavy 

 to the beach. Although he already knows more 

 about tarpon-fishing than the rest of us are ever 

 likely to learn, his luck has not hitherto been of 

 the best, and he has won a mournful reputation as 

 a gatherer of jewfish, grouper and other rubbish of 

 the same calibre. This afternoon he has hooked 

 still stranger game, for he presently lands on the 

 beach an immense loggerhead turtle, foul-hooked in 

 one of the flippers. Caramba I but its fat will 

 simmer slowly this night in a savoury mess for the 

 supper of Manuel, his Spanish guide, and of such 

 cronies as are bidden to the orgy. 



" Mind your head, sir ! " and a tarpon not far 

 short of loo lbs. falls back in the water within half 

 a dozen yards of the Colonel's boat. 



"Mind your Jish, sir!" is the retort, as the 



