CHAPTER XII. 



TAKP UM— TARPON— SILVER KING. 



\_Megalops ihrissoides.] 



BT AL. FRESCO. 



For life I can't help scribbling once a week 



Firing old readers, nor discovering new, 



In youth I wrote because my mind was full 



And now because I feel it growing dull. 



But " why then publish ? " — There are no rewards 

 Of fan:,e or profit when the world grows weary, 



I ask yi turn, — why do we play at cards? 



Why fish ? Why read ? — To make the hours less dreary. 



In journals devoted to sports of forest and stream, we frequently 

 notice references to the lordly salmon, the noble striped bass, the 

 plucky " bronze backers," and the speckled beauties — but the tar- 

 pon, " the Noblest Roman " of them all — the game fish ^:)ar excell- 

 ence of American -n-aters is seldom noticed. When the acrobatic 

 performances, and the fighting qualities of this noble fish become 

 known, a new revolution will present itself to those who can enjoy 

 true piscatorial sport. In a recent communication published in one 

 of your contemporaries, that accomplished writer " S. C. C." referred 

 to the fighting qualities of the tarpon ; and in writing cora]iarative- 



