napped. I was ready for this, too. But at that it was an awful
instant! As the wave came back, almost deep enough to float the
bonefish, I scooped him up.

"He's ours!" I said, consulting my watch. "Thirty-three minutes! I give
you my word that fight was comparable to ones I've had with a Pacific
swordfish."

"Look at him!" R. C. burst out. "Look at him! When the leader broke I
thought he was lost. I'm sick yet. Didn't you almost bungle that?"

"Not a chance, R. C.," I replied. "Had that all figured. I never put any
strain on your line until the wave went back. Then I slid him out, the
leader broke, and I scooped him up."

R. C. stood gazing down at the glistening, opal-spotted fish. What a
contrast he presented to any other kind of a fish! How many beautiful
species have we seen lying on sand or moss or ferns, just come out of
the water! But I could remember no other so rare as this bonefish. The
exceeding difficulty of the capture of this, our first really large
bonefish, had a great deal to do with our admiration and pride. For the
hard work of any achievement is what makes it worth while. But this had
nothing to do with the exquisite, indescribable beauty of the bonefish.
He was long, thick, heavy, and round, with speed and power in every
line; a sharp white nose and huge black eyes. The body of him was live,
quivering silver, molten silver in the sunlight, crossed and barred with
blazing stripes. The opal hues came out upon the anal fin, and the broad
tail curled up, showing lavender tints on a background of brilliant
blue. He weighed eight pounds. Symbolic of the mysterious life and
beauty in the ocean! Wonderful and prolific as nature is on land, she is
infinitely more so in the sea. By the sun and the sea we live; and I
shall never tire of seeking and studying the manifold life of the deep.

VIII

SOME RARE FISH

It is very strange that the longer a man fishes the more there seems to
be to learn. In my case this is one of the secrets of the fascination of
the game. Always there will be greater fish in the ocean than I have
ever caught.

Five or six years ago I heard the name "waahoo" mentioned at Long Key.
The boatmen were using it in a way to make one see that they did not
believe there was such a fish as a waahoo. The old conch fishermen had
never heard the name. For that matter, neither had I.

Later I heard the particulars of a hard and spectacular fight Judge
Shields had had with a strang