losing him. He risked much when he grasped
the waving sword with his right hand, and with the gaff in his left he
hauled the swordfish aboard and let him slide down into the cockpit. For
Captain Dan it was no less an overcoming of obstinate difficulty than
for me. He was as elated as I, but I forgot the past long, long siege,
while he remembered it.

That swordfish certainly looked a tiger of the sea. He had purple fins,
long, graceful, sharp; purple stripes on a background of dark, mottled
bronze green; mother-of-pearl tint fading into the green; and great
opal eyes with dark spots in the center. The colors came out most
vividly and exquisitely, the purple blazing, just as the swordfish
trembled his last and died. He was nine feet two inches long and weighed
one hundred and eighteen pounds.

[Illustration: A CLEAN GREYHOUND LEAP]

[Illustration: 316-POUND SWORDFISH]

* * * * *

I caught one the next day, one hundred and forty-four pounds. Fought
another the next day and he threw the hook after a half-hour. Caught two
the following day--one hundred and twenty, and one hundred and sixty-six
pounds. And then, Captain Dan foreshadowing my remarkable finish,
exclaimed:

"I'm lookin' for busted records now!"

* * * * *

One day about noon the sea was calm except up toward the west end, where
a wind was whipping the water white. Clemente Island towered with its
steep slopes of wild oats and its blue canons full of haze.

Captain Dan said he had seen a big swordfish jump off to the west, and
we put on full speed. He must have been a mile out and just where the
breeze ruffled the water. As good luck would have it, we came upon the
fish on the surface. I consider this a fine piece of judgment for
Captain Dan, to locate him at that distance. He was a monster and fresh
run from the outside sea. That is to say, his great fin and tail were
violet, almost pink in color. They had not had time to get sunburnt, as
those of fish earlier arrived at Clemente.

We made a wide circle round him, to draw the flying-fish bait near him.
But before we could get it near he went down. The same old story, I
thought, with despair--these floating fish will not bite. We circled
over the place where he had gone down, and I watched my bait rising and
falling in the low swells.

Suddenly Captain Dan yelled and I saw a great blaze of purple and silver
green flashing after my bait