rty-five he leaped clear out, and we snapped two pictures
of him. It was a fierce effort to free the hook, a leap not beautiful
and graceful, like that of the Marlin, but magnificent and dogged.

After this leap he changed his tactics. Repeatedly I was pulled forward
and lifted from my seat by sudden violent jerks. They grew more frequent
and harder. He came up and we saw how he did that. He was facing the
boat and batting the leader with his sword. This was the most remarkable
action I ever observed in a fighting fish. That sword was a weapon. I
could hear it hit the leader. But he did most of this work under the
surface. Every time he hit the leader it seemed likely to crack my neck.
The rod bent, then the line slackened so I could feel no weight, the rod
flew straight. I had an instant of palpitating dread, feeling he had
freed himself--then harder came the irresistible, heavy drag again. This
batting of the leader and consequent slacking of the line worried Dan,
as it did me. Neither of us expected to hold the fish. As a performance
it was wonderful. But to endure it was terrible. And he batted that
leader at least three hundred times!

In fact, every moment or two he banged the leader several times for over
an hour. It almost wore me out. If he had not changed those tactics
again those jerks would have put a kink in my neck and back. But
fortunately he came up on the surface to thresh about some more. Again
he leaped clear, affording us another chance for a picture. Following
that he took his first long run. It was about one hundred yards and as
fast as a Marlin. Then he sounded. He stayed down for half an hour. When
he came up somewhat he seemed to be less resistant, and we dragged him
at slow speed for several miles. At the end of three hours I asked Dan
for the harness, which he strapped to my shoulders. This afforded me
relief for my arms and aching hands, but the straps cut into my back,
and that hurt. The harness enabled me to lift and pull by a movement of
shoulders. I worked steadily on him for an hour, five different times
getting the two-hundred-foot mark on the line over my reel. When I tired
Dan would throw in the clutch and drag him some more. Once he followed
us without strain for a while; again we dragged him two or three miles.
And most remarkable of all, there was a period of a few moments when he
towed us. A wonderful test for a twenty-four-strand line! We made
certain of this by throwing papers o