THE LADY AND THE TUNA 



harder I fought it the more it would distress 

 the other fish. 



I kept hearing "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" and 

 "Great Heavens!" from my fair companion, 

 hut was too husy myself to pay much atten- 

 tion to what she was doing. In forty-five 

 minutes I had my fish alongside and gaffed 

 — 104 pounds. Then I looked to see what 

 was going on to the southward. I found the 

 lady's tuna had luckily been hooked in the 

 top of the mouth, that it had practically 

 drowned itself on its first long run, and had 

 since then been flopping about on the sur- 

 face of the water. I also saw that Miss C.'s 

 reel had blocked, so that the line would not 

 run out, and that she had but fifty feet of 

 line left. She was holding on to the rod for 

 dear life but looked very pale. I told the 

 boatman to back the boat slowly toward the 

 flopping fish, and was pleased to find that 

 the reel would take the line. We soon had 

 the tuna gaffed and in the boat — 118 

 pounds. Miss C. collapsed at once; her hat 



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