CHAPTER V 
LADIES WHO LOVE THE SPORT 
THERE are generally some ladies in the company, indeed the 
gentler sex seems to have taken to tarpon fishing to an extent 
quite unforeseen when first men introduced the sport. It is 
wonderful, too, how ladies manage to hold on to these mighty 
fish, and to husband their strength, the department in 
which, in their excitement, they might reasonably be 
expected to fail. I have already mentioned the feat of the 
lady who killed her four tarpon in one morning. Considering 
that these fish weighed close on i100 Ib. apiece, this 
was no mean achievement. This same woman, while 
beaching one of her first heavy fish early in the season, 
fell backwards over a few straws. She was too exhausted 
to stand upright again for some moments, but so excited 
was her imagination that she was firmly persuaded, until 
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