THE SILVBE KING 



ou a pivot ; then, about three quarters of an hour after the 

 strike, I brought the silver king to the side of the boat. I called 

 for the gaff. Mateo looked aghast at the big rollers which 

 threatened to stand us on end. Mateo was game, but he hesitated, 

 and the gaffer who hesitates is generally lost. 



' Gaff him, quick ! ' I shouted, holding the six-foot fighting- 

 mad mass of animation with great difficulty, as it displayed an 

 evident desire to come aboard. 



Mateo hesitated a second. I fancy he was putting up a 

 prayer, as I learned later that here no one took their fish into boats ; 

 they beached them — the proper thing to do. But I was taking no 

 chances in a mile-pull, as I did later when I broke my long rod. So 

 Mateo gaffed the tarpon and slid it into the boat. I have heard of 

 ' ground and lofty tumbling ' at the circus, and am sure that the 

 dozen or more tarpon anglers about us enjoyed this short impro- 

 vised act. Mateo gripped my tarpon, as he evidently was obliged 

 to do or be MUed, and the two fell down into the bottom of the 

 boat, while I dodged the flying tail and sweeping muzzle, oars and 

 other articles which appeared to go up into the air Uke a fountain 

 of solids to the tune of spartan oaths. That we did not go over- 

 board in the mgl^e was a miracle ; but Mateo managed to put 

 his knife into the gills of the game while sitting on it, and rose, 

 covered with gore, but triumphant. 



I should explain that I was anxious to secure this tarpon as it 

 was just the right size for my study, and I have it hung at about 

 the height I think I saw it jump. I can always laugh when I look 

 at it, recalling how it threw us into the air with oars, gaffs, bailers, 

 mullet box, tackle, lunch, camera, everything. I can also 

 remember Mateo as a good boatman, with an extraordinary 

 vocabulary ; at least we got the game. Every day we fished, but 

 I held the fish and Mateo towed us to the beach. In one of 

 these expeditions the fish made a sudden rush and broke my 

 special rod. 



Tarpon angling in America is, at least in Florida, practised in 

 early spring, as the weather is uncomfortably warm after May or 



251 



