THE GAME FISHES OP THE WOELD 



We had rowed possibly a half mile when I had a strike, a 

 sudden steady pull. I slacked away, remembering the hard jaw 

 of the fish, then struck home. Up into the air, not fifteen feet 

 from me, went a great silvery mass, scintillating and glistening 

 in the sunlight like molten silver. Mateo, taking no chances, had 

 pulled the skiff around with a jerk at the oar, so that I first saw 

 the fish directly in front of me hitting the air like a steel spring ; 

 then I certainly saw it over my right shoidder six feet up, and 

 then it came down to go up again and deluge us with spray. 



' He look pleasant all right,' whispered Mateo, wiping the 

 spray from his face and handing me my sombrero. ' Why didn't 

 you tak eem ? ' 



I had forgotten aU about the camera, and my fish was making a 

 series of leaps across the pass, while the camera had rolled into the 

 bottom of the boat where it went off in disgust, taking a picture 

 of Mateo's bare legs under the seat. I soon had the ' Yucatan 

 bounder,' as Mateo christened the fish, stopped, though it took 

 two hundred feet of line, and up into the air it went, slamming 

 that awful tail at its open mouth just as you have seen a crocodile 

 or aUigator attempt to toss its game between its jaws. Several 

 men have been killed with this terrible tail of the tarpon, and I 

 can well imagine how it can be done, as the scales are as hard as 

 steel. Mateo backed after the fish, which was now headed for 

 the heavy surf near the wreck of an old steamer, where later 

 my friend Streeter was carried and capsized but landed his fish 

 after a gallant struggle. 



There were big sharks here, for which Mateo and I had a hearty 

 respect, so I stopped the run and held hard with my thumb on 

 the pad while Mateo pulled. This checked the fish, which turned 

 and swung around in the great arc of a circle, leaping in splendid 

 fashion, flashing in the sunlight, a most exhilarating spectacle. 

 It soon had us in the surf on the opposite side of the jetty, aaid 

 it took another half hour with my long rod to bring it back into 

 the channel. Here it sulked, broke away, went into the air, 

 dashed under the boat and forced my boatman to whirl about 

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