THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



' The fall of the fish so near the canoe alriiost swamped it ; but Jose 

 jerked the handle of the harpoon from its socket, tossed over the coil 

 of line, and with a vigorous sweep of the paddle turned the frail craft 

 in the direction of mid-stream just in time, as it dashed away with the 

 speed of an arrow, then leaping into the air, to fall back heavily, beating 

 the water with its ponderous tail. 



' These actions soon exhausted the line, and with a jerk the canoe 

 dashed ahead, towed by the Arapaima. There was no need of Jose's 

 warning to get astern ; the first lunge of the fish sent the bow of the canoe 

 deep into the water, half-filling it, at which we tumbled aft as best we 

 could. This brought the bow up into the air, where Jose stood and 

 managed the Hne, with his knife between his teeth, ready to cut it if 

 necessary. With unerring instinct, the fish made for mid-stream and 

 deep water, towing us at a rate not to be despised by a steam-boat, making 

 the water hiss about the bow, and carrying a big wave of disagreeable 

 dimensions on either side. 



' In the stream were numerous trunks of palms that had been under- 

 mined and were on their slow journey down the river, and beneath one 

 of these the big fish plunged. It was evident that the end had come ; 

 but Jos6 was equal to the emergency ; and seizing the paddles, he guided 

 the canoe around the root, and on we sped. ".He soon get sick," Jose 

 kept repeating ; and finally, when the fish had made a desperate lunge to 

 the bottom, he began to take in the Une, passing it along so that each one 

 aided in the work. 



' That one fish, eleven feet in length, could weary and tire out three 

 men seems incredible, but it is a fact. The rushes of the game monster 

 were of a kind undreamed of by the sportsman, and when its plunges 

 came, they could not be met. The line hissed through our fingers and 

 smoked as it went over the slight gunwale ; and to have fastened it meant 

 a break ; so we possessed ourselves in patience and played the game, 

 allowing it to wear itself out, which in time it did. When the line slack- 

 ened, we took it in, hand over hand, as rapidly as we could, every pull 

 felt by the fish being answered by a lunge that sent the rope hissing through 

 our already burned fingers. But finally the pace began to tell on the 

 big fish. It had towed the canoe an eighth of a mile with leaps, plunges 

 and struggles that proved it a worthy foeman, and now gradually suc- 

 cumbed. Its rushes grew less and less frequent, and without the force 

 and power that characterized them at the onset, and finally Josd announced 

 that the game was up ; the fish barely responded to the hauls on the rope, 

 and the fight was over. The fish sulked hke a salmon and allowed itself to 

 be hauled alongside without a struggle, merely moving its great tail back 

 and forth, propelling the canoe slowly along. Once alongside, a shot 

 in the vertebrae of the neck put an end to it, and it was towed ashore and 

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