of sunset and it turned
out to be a beautiful and memorable one. Not a breath of air stirred.
There was no sound except the screech of a gull and the distant splashes
of wading birds. I had not before experienced silence on or near salt
water. The whole experience was new. We remarked that the tide had not
seemed to rise any higher. Everywhere were little swells, little waves,
little wakes, all made by bonefish. The sun sank red and gold, and all
the wide flat seemed on fire, with little mangroves standing clear and
dark against the ruddy glow. And about this time the strangest thing
happened. It might have been going on before, but Sam and I had not seen
it. All around us were bonefish tails lifted out of the water. They
glistened like silver. When a bonefish feeds his head is down and his
tail is up, and, the water being shallow, the upper fluke of his tail
stands out. If I saw one I saw a thousand. It was particularly easy to
see them in the glassy water toward the sunset.

A school of feeding bonefish came toward us. I counted eleven tails out
of the water. They were around my bait. Now or never, I thought, waiting
frantically! But they went on feeding--passed over my line--and came so
near the boat that I could plainly see the gray shadow shapes, the
long, sharp noses, the dark, staring eyes. I reeled in to find my bait
gone, as usual. It was exasperating.

We had to give up then, as darkness was not far off. Sam was worried
about the boat. He rowed while I stood up. Going back, I saw bonefish in
twos and fours and droves. We passed school after school. They had just
come in from the sea, for they were headed up the flat. I saw many
ten-pound fish, but I did not know enough about bonefish then to
appreciate what I saw. However, I did appreciate their keen sight and
wariness and wonderful speed and incredible power. Some of the big
surges made me speculate what a heavy bonefish might do to light tackle.
Sam and I were disappointed at our luck, somewhat uncertain whether it
was caused by destructive work of crabs or the wrong kind of bait or
both. It scarcely occurred to us to inquire into our ignorance.

We found the boat hard and fast in the mud. Sam rowed me ashore. I
walked back to camp, and he stayed all night, and all the next day,
waiting for the tide to float the boat.

After that on several days we went up to the flat to fish for bonefish.
But we could not hit the right tide or the fish were not there. At