was reminded of what Enos, the Portuguese boatman,
complained to an angler he had out, "You mos' unluck' fisherman I ever
see!"

We tried a shorter kite-line and a shorter length of my line, and we ran
down upon that mess of tuna once more. It was strange--and foolish--how
we stuck to that school of biggest fish. This time Dan headed right into
the thick of them. Out of the corners of my eyes I seemed to see tuna
settling down all around. Suddenly my brother yelled.

Zam! That was a huge loud splash back of my bait. The tuna missed. R. C.
yelled again. Captain Dan followed suit:

"He's after it!... Oh, he's the biggest yet!"

Then I saw a huge tuna wallowing in a surge round my bait. He heaved up,
round and big as a barrel, flashing a wide bar of blue-green, and he got
the hook. If he had been strangely slow he was now unbelievably swift.
His size gave me panic. I never moved, and he hooked himself. Straight
down he shot and the line broke.

My brother's sympathy now was as sincere as Captain Dan's misery. I
asked R. C. to take the rod and see if he could do better.

"Not much!" he replied. "When you get one, then I'll try. Stay with 'em,
now!"

Not improbably I would have stayed out until the tuna quit if that had
taken all night. Three more times we put up the kite--three more
flying-fish we wired on the double hooks--three more runs we made
through that tantalizing school of tuna that grew huger and swifter and
more impossible--three more smashing wide breaks of water on the
strike--and quicker than a flash three more broken lines!

I imagined I was resigned. My words to my silent comrades were even
cheerful.

"Come on. Try again. Where there's life there's hope. It's an
exceedingly rare experience--anyway. After all, nothing depends upon my
catching one of these tuna. It doesn't matter."

All of which attested to the singular state of my mind.

Another kite, another leader and double hook, another bait had to be
arranged. This took time. My impatience, my nervousness were hard to
restrain. Captain Dan was pale and grim. I do not know how I looked.
Only R. C. no longer looked at me.

As we put out the bait we made the discovery that the other anglers, no
doubt having ended their fight, were running down upon our particular
school of tuna. This was in line with our luck. Other schools of tuna
were in sight, but these fellows had to head for ours. It galled me when
I thought how sportsman-like I had been