On the Trail of the Sailfish 225 



hunter, and the man who believes in gaffing tarpon. And 

 so the angler, who takes a big swordfish or spearfish with 

 rod or grains, is in the anticipatory state of D'Artagnan — he 

 is liable to be spitted at any moment. 



Some years ago the late Professor G. B. Goode, of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, made a collection of the actual in- 

 stances of vessels and men that had been injured, and there 

 were so many that the swordfish can easily be put down as 

 a menace to navigation and to human life. Not a week 

 passes but, somewhere, some vessel is rammed by this swash- 

 buckler of the sea. 



