That put us all in a blaze of excitement. Still we thought the strike
they got might just have been lucky. In running down farther, so we
could come back against the light breeze, we ran pretty close to the
school out of which the strike had been gotten. Captain Dan stood up to
take a good look.

"They're hundred-pounders, all right," he said. "But they're not as big
as the tuna in those two leading schools. I'm glad those ginks in that
boat are tied up with a tuna for a spell."

I took a look at the fisherman who was fighting the tuna. Certainly I
did not begrudge him one, but somehow, so strange are the feelings of a
fisherman that I was mightily pleased to see that he was a novice at the
game, was having his troubles, and would no doubt be a long, long time
landing his tuna. My blood ran cold at the thought of other anglers
appearing on the scene, and anxiously I scanned the horizon. No boat in
sight! If I had only known then what sad experience taught me that
afternoon I would have been tickled to pieces to see all the great
fishermen of Avalon tackle this school of big tuna.

Captain Dan got a kite up a little better than I had hoped for. It was
not good, but it was worth trying. My bait, even on a turn of the boat,
skipped along just at the edge of the wake of the boat. And the wake of
a boat will almost always put a school of tuna down.

We headed for the second school. My thrilling expectancy was tinged and
spoiled with doubt. I skipped my bait in imitation of a flying-fish
leaping and splashing along. We reached the outer edge of the school.
Slowly the little boils smoothed out. Slowly the big fins sank. So did
my heart. We passed the school. They all sank. And then when Captain Dan
swore and I gave up there came a great splash back of my bait. I yelled
and my comrades echoed me. The tuna missed. I skipped the bait. A
sousing splash--and another tuna had my bait. My line sagged. I jerked
hard. But too late! The tuna threw the hook before it got a hold.

"They're hungry!" exclaimed Dan. "Hurry--reel the kite in. We'll get
another bait on quick.... Look! that school is coming up again! They're
not shy of boats. Boys, there's something doing."

Captain Dan's excitement augmented my own. I sensed an unusual
experience that had never before befallen me.

The school of largest fish was farther to the west. The breeze lulled.
We could not fly the kite except with the motion and direction of the
boat. It was exa