e fourth time, and harder than ever. I let him run perhaps a hundred
feet. All the time, of course, my boat was running. I had out a long
line--two hundred yards. Then I threw on the drag and almost cracked the
rod. This time I actually felt the hook go in.

How heavy and fast he was! The line slipped off and I was afraid of the
drag. I threw it off--no easy matter with that weight on it--and then
the line whistled. The sailfish was running straight toward B.'s boat
and, I calculated, should be close to it.

"Sam," I yelled, "watch him! If he jumps he'll jump into that boat!"

Then he came out, the biggest sailfish I ever saw, and he leaped
magnificently, not twenty yards back of that boat. He must have been
beyond the lines of the trolling anglers. I expected him to cross them
or cut himself loose. We yelled to B. to steer off, and while we yelled
the big sailfish leaped and leaped, apparently keeping just as close to
the boat. He certainly was right upon it and he was a savage leaper. He
would shoot up, wag his head, his sail spread like the ears of a mad
elephant, and he would turn clear over to alight with a smack and splash
that we plainly heard. And he had out nine hundred feet of line. Because
of his size I wanted him badly, but, badly as that was, I fought him
without a drag, let him run and leap, and I hoped he would jump right
into that boat. Afterward these anglers told me they expected him to do
just that and were scared to death. Also they said a close sight of him
leaping was beautiful and thrilling in the extreme.

I did not keep track of all this sailfish's leaps, but Sam recorded
twenty-three, and that is enough for any fisherman. I venture to state
that it will not be beaten very soon. When he stopped leaping we drew
him away from the other boat, and settled down to a hard fight with a
heavy, stubborn, game fish. In perhaps half an hour I had him twenty
yards away, and there he stayed while I stood up on the stern to watch
him and keep clear of the propeller. He weaved from side to side,
exactly like a tired swordfish, and every now and then he would stick
out his bill and swish! he would cut at the leader. This fish was not
only much larger than any I had seen, but also more brilliantly colored.
There were suggestions of purple that reminded me of the swordfish--that
royal purple game of the Pacific. Another striking feature was that in
certain lights he was a vivid green, and again, when deeper, he