I got up to see how far off Clemente was. And upon the last of
these occasions I saw the fins of a swordfish right across our bow. I
yelled to Captain Dan. He turned the boat aside, almost on top of the
swordfish. Hurriedly I put a bait on my hook and got it overboard, and
let the line run. Then I looked about for the swordfish. He had gone
down.

It seemed then that, simultaneously with the recurrence of a peculiar
and familiar disappointment, a heavy and powerful fish viciously took my
bait and swept away. I yelled to Captain Dan:

"He's got it!" ...

Captain Dan stopped the engine and came to my side. "No!" he exclaimed.

Then I replied, "Look at that line!" ...

It seemed like a dream. Too good to be true! I let out a shout when I
hooked him and a yell of joy when he broke water--a big swordfish, over
two hundred pounds. What really transpired on Captain Dan's boat the
following few moments I cannot adequately describe. Suffice to say that
it was violent effort, excitement, and hilarity. I never counted the
leaps of the swordfish. I never clearly saw him after that first leap.
He seemed only a gleam in flying spray. Still, I did not make any
mistakes.

At the end of perhaps a quarter of an hour the swordfish quit his
surface work and settled down to under-water fighting, and I began to
find myself. Captain Dan played the phonograph, laughed, and joked while
I fought the fish. My companions watched my rod and line and the water,
wide-eyed and mute, as if they could not believe what seemed true.

In about an hour and a half the swordfish came up and, tired out, he
rolled on the top of the great swells. But he could not be drawn near
the boat. One little wave of his tail made my rod bend dangerously.
Still, I knew I had him beaten, and I calculated that in another hour,
perhaps, I could lead him alongside.

[Illustration: SWORDFISH ON THE SURFACE]

[Illustration: HOLDING HARD]

Then, like thunder out of a clear sky, something went wrong with the
great B-Ocean reel. It worked hard. When a big swell carried the
swordfish up, pulling out line, the reel rasped.

"It's freezing on you!" shouted Captain Dan, with dark glance.

A new reel sometimes clogs and stops from friction and heat. I had had
von Hofe and other reels freeze. But in this instance, it seemed that
for the reel to freeze would be simply heartbreaking. Well--it froze,
tight as a shut vise! I sat there, clutching the vibrating rod, and I
watc