TALES OF FISHES 



just how far away he was, because the marks had 

 worn off my line. It was amazing and thrilling, 

 therefore, to suddenly see the end of the double line 

 appear. Dan yelled. So did I. Like a Trojan I 

 worked till I got that double line over my reel. 

 Then we all saw the fish. He was on his side, swim- 

 ming with us — a huge, bird-shaped creature with a 

 frightful bill. Dan called me to get the leader out 

 of water and then hold. This took about all I 

 had left of strength. The fish wavered from side to 

 side, and Dan feared he would go under the boat. 

 He ordered me to hold tight, and he put on more 

 speed. This grew to be more than I could stand. 

 It was desperately hard to keep the line from slip- 

 ping. And I knew a little more of that would lose 

 my fish. So I called Dan to take the leader. With 

 his huge gaff in right hand, Dan reached for the leader 

 with his left, grasped it, surged the fish up and made 

 a lunge. There came a roar and a beating against 

 the boat. Dan yelled for another gaff. It was 

 handed to him and he plunged that into the fish. 

 Then I let down my rod and dove for the short 

 rope to lasso the sweeping tail. Fortunately he kept 

 quiet a moment in which I got the loop fast. It was 

 then Xiphius gladius really woke up. He began a 

 tremendous beating with his tail. Both gaff ropes 

 began to loosen, and the rope on his tail flew out of 

 my hands. Dan got it in time. But it was slipping. 

 He yelled for me to make a hitch somewhere. I 

 was pulled flat in the cockpit, but scrambled up, out 

 on the stern, and held on to that rope grimly while 

 I tried to fasten it. Just almost impossible! The 

 water was deluging us. The swordfish banged the 



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