test gain and
pulled in until there was not more than one hundred feet of line out.
His heart was beating high with hope, when the tuna sighted the boat
again and darted away, apparently as fresh and full of fight as when he
had at first been hooked.

At this last rush, when it appeared that there was no immediate
slackening of the powers of the splendid fish, Major Dare said:

"Do you want me to finish him for you?"

In his inmost heart Colin feared that he would have to give up, but he
did not want to admit it. He was utterly inexperienced in the sport and
knew nothing of the many ways whereby older anglers relieve themselves
of much of the strain, but the boy's nerve was untouched, and he set his
teeth and answered:

"I want to bring him in all by myself, if I can, Father. I'm not done
yet, not by a long shot. But if you think I ought to let you finish it,
why, I suppose I'll have to."

"No, I want to see you bring him in," his father said; "only don't kill
yourself at it. It's just as well not to overstrain yourself; it's easy
to have too much energy without judgment."

The boy's grit was soon rewarded, for after this rush, the tuna changed
his tactics, and sinking down to about thirty feet from the surface,
began a steady powerful swim, not a rush, but a straightaway, having
about two hundred feet of line out. To the boy's surprise the boat began
to slip along at a fair rate of speed, and he saw that miracle of
angling, a hundred-pound fish, frightened and angry, towing a heavy boat
with three people in it at a rate of five miles an hour by a line no
thicker than a hairpin. With constant watchfulness and deft management,
the boy was able to gain a few inches at a time. But a few inches make
but little difference when there is two hundred feet of line out!

For over twenty minutes the tuna towed the boat, and then his mood
changed. Though not by any means exhausted, the first undaunted
freshness had worn off and, sulky and savage, the fish charged back at
the line again, that strange white thing in the water that he could not
shake off and that followed him no matter where he went. But in charging
back at the line, as before, he found the boat at the other end of it.
The return charge had been slower than before, and the big multiplier on
the reel had done its work, so that when the tuna came near the boat not
more than seventy feet of line was out, and the boy determined to hold
on to this.

Reaching the