TALES OF FISHES 



the main channel, where strong currents and a 

 choppy sea made the matter a pretty serious and 

 uncomfortable one. Here I expended all I had left 

 in a short and furious struggle to bring the fish up, 

 if not to gaff, at least so we could see what he looked 

 like. How strange and unfathomable a feeling this 

 mystery of him gave rise to ! If I could only see him 

 once, then he could get away and welcome. Captain 

 Dan, in anticipation of a need of much elbow room 

 in that cockpit, ordered my brother and the ladies 

 to go into the cabin or up on top. And they all 

 scrambled up and lay flat on the deck-roof, with 

 their heads over, watching me. They had to hold 

 on some, too. In fact, they were having the time 

 of their lives. 



My supreme effort brought the fish within the 

 hundredth foot length of line — then my hands and 

 my back refused any more. 



"Dan, here's the great chance you've always hank- 

 ered for!" I said. "Now let's see you pull him 

 right in!" 



And I passed him the rod and got up. Dan took 

 it with the pleased expression of a child suddenly 

 and wonderfully come into possession of a long- 

 unattainable toy. Captain Dan was going to pull 

 that fish right up to the boat. He was! Now Dan 

 is big — ^he weighs two hundred; he has arms and 

 hands like the limbs of a Vulcan. Perhaps Dan 

 had every reason to believe he would pull the fish 

 right up to the boat. But somehow I knew that he 

 would not. 



My fish, perhaps feeling a new and different and 

 mightier hand at the rod, showed how he liked it by 



66 



