Personally, Iincline to the opinion that it was
some other kind of whale.
The deck appeared crowded with curious passengers,
who waved, andcheered.
Theyre going tocome to either side of us, and
pretty close. It was a cold, wintry almostinvisible sea, not conducive to the thrill
and joy of the angler.
There, at the end of two hours and something, I
heaved that whalerup to the waiting boatmen. Between the up-splashing sheets of
water I saw the three men holding thatshark. Added to what I just wrote about Great
Barrier fish, let me append onemore fact. Neither bird nor fish showed to
long-practisedeyes. Upon myreturn to Australia I shall try out one of these. Its
loneliness was as manifest as whencalm.
Wherefore, instead of enjoying myself I settled
down to grim business.
It was rather rare, and a harder fighter than the
blackor ordinary whaler. Weight, one thousand and thirty-sixpounds! A violent and
persistent lamming, as Peter called it, brought thattiger shark to the
surface.
It seems hardly necessary to say much about methods
of fishing forswordfish.
This battle continued as long as the watchers could
see withthe naked eye, and then with glasses.
Four months, at least half of which was unfishable
on account of highwinds and rough seas!
And then the three men held that ferocious
tigershark until he ceased his struggles. Believe me he gaped those wide fanged jaws
and shut themwith the sound of a steel trap.
The ship was rushing on, now with a graceful, slow
forward dipand then with a long rise. A steely sun made pale bright light upon
theruffled bay; gray fog shrouded the dome of Mt. Icould scarcely hear any sound of
swirling waters. Then I hadit out with him and stopped him in a little short of an
hour. As it turned out, however, wedid not pass close enough to the Marquesans to
see them.
I believed in the sea serpent before the
Englishscientist, Lieut.
This gray tiger, a good big one,flashed at my cork
as he dragged it under.
Icould scarcely hear any sound of swirling
waters.
He assures me he will nevershoot
another.
Weight, one thousand and
thirty-sixpounds!
Undoubtedly there aremore and larger fish to
discover around these reefs. Hes coming, sir, rasped out Peter, hauling in, his body
taut.
Bullens Atlanta rod madeby Southam is the most
wonderful rod I have used. He would roll up a fewfeet, then the leader would slip or
loosen, with the consequentvibrations.
Fishing is like Jasons quest for the Golden
Fleece.
I went out on deck inthe dim opaque gloom of a
South Pacific dawn. Night was not far away, yet I seemed to see everything almost
asclearly as by day. There, at the end of two hours and something, I heaved that
whalerup to the waiting boatmen.
In a few moments we were all set for battle and
getting away from theother boats.