SOME FISH AND SOME FISHING 



of the salt-water estuaries into the fresh- 

 water limpid streams to spawn. Once in 

 every century the Silver King was per- 

 mitted to bathe in an electro-thermal medi- 

 cine spring of liquid silver, and thus pre- 

 served and renewed the brightness of his 

 armor. The silver springs flowed from the 

 hidden ore-beds of the inner mountains. 

 Finally the growth of the continent south- 

 ward drove the ocean before it and thus the 

 tarpon — the Silver King — was forced 

 gradually into the Gulf of Mexico, where he 

 now chiefly inhabits 



"He has gone from his former haunts 

 just like the buffalo which once covered the 

 prairies, and the great silver mines, being 

 thus left unprotected and exposed, soon 

 became revealed to the knowledge and 

 cupidity of men who are now swarming 

 more than ever into the country, bringing 

 their picks and crushers and driving off the 

 game. But the Great Spirit took pity on the 

 Silver King because he was thus deprived 



[18] 



