he canoe in a straight
line, at a high rate of speed, and then began a series of leaps in
the air. Some of these were long jumps which barely cleared the
surface of the water, while others were from eight to ten feet
vertically upward. The tarpon then darted away in a new direction,
blistering Dick's hands as the line tore through them. For a quarter
of an hour the drag of the canoe made little difference in the speed
of the tarpon, but then it began to slacken and Dick was able to
pull the canoe up beside the fish, which gave a leap and a sweep of
its tail that drenched both of the boys and, if the tarpon had been
a foot nearer, would have wrecked their craft. Again the creature
dashed away, getting back most of the line that Dick had taken in.
Once more the fish weakened, and the canoe was drawn up beside it,
and once more it sprang in the air and dashed away. But with each
fresh effort the tarpon became weaker, until Dick said to Ned:

"He's about played out. Better take the gaff next time I get near
him and see if you can land him in the canoe."

"No," replied Ned, "he's your tarpon and you can gaff him yourself.
He'll capsize the canoe when he comes aboard and I want to be ready
to swim."

[Illustration: "THE TARPON BEGAN A SERIES OF LEAPS"]

Dick drew the canoe beside the tarpon and, dropping the
harpoon-line, held the handle of the big gaff-hook in both hands,
ready to strike. But the fish saw the uplifted weapon and sheered
away, swimming with renewed vigor, and Dick had to work for another
half hour before his quarry was quiet enough for the blow. This
delay was fortunate for the boys, since it left the tarpon too tired
to struggle. When Dick sank the steel gaff deep in the throat of
the Silver King and dragged it over the side of the frail canoe,
Ned sat in the bottom of the craft with a hand on each gunwale,
ready to balance the boat or swim, as events might indicate.

The boys took a lot of the big silver scales as souvenirs and then
slid the body of the tarpon into the bay, where it was soon devoured
by a couple of wandering sharks.

CHAPTER XI

GHOSTS AND ALLIGATORS

The boys spent a day exploring the bay to the east and south,
finding but a single creek, which lost itself in the jungle after
wandering a few miles.

"I don't believe we can get through this way," said Dick to his
chum, as they were resting, after an hour of hard work, cutting away
branches of trees and dragging the cano