Part 20 (1/2)

”He's in luck, then,” said the boy's companion. ”I hope I get a chance this season. Still, it's a good omen, seeing a catch like this when coming into the harbor.”

”Sure thing,” said Colin confidently, ”there are probably lots of them this season. Do you suppose Father will land him?”

”About nine out of ten get away,” was the reply, ”and it takes a good fisherman to bring them to the gaff. Has your father been here before?

Perhaps I may know him.”

”He comes nearly every year,” Colin answered. ”Dare is his name, Major Dare.”

”Oh, you're Dare's son, are you?” was the response, as the older man held out his hand. ”I've known your father for years. He holds a blue tuna b.u.t.ton, doesn't he?”

”I've never heard of it, if he does,” Colin answered. ”What's that for?”

”It is the greatest fis.h.i.+ng honor that is to be got anywhere. Only about seventy members of the club have gained it; two, I believe, being women, and the second largest tuna ever caught on rod and line was brought to gaff by a woman angler. It is given for catching a tuna weighing over one hundred pounds, on a light rod.”

”That must be fearfully hard to do,” the boy said; ”even a twenty-pound fish is a strain to a light rod.”

”It is difficult,” was the reply, ”but the club rules require the use of a rod the tip of which shall be not less than five feet long, weighing not over sixteen ounces in weight, and a line not over a 'twenty-four'

or smaller than the usual trout-line. With this equipment, to conquer a tuna weighing over one hundred pounds is an angling achievement of the highest rank, and for this the blue tuna b.u.t.ton is given by the club.”

”And Father never told me!” Colin said reproachfully, watching the contest with the fish as well as he could considering his distance from the scene of action.

”Major Dare is a thorough sportsman,” the angler said, ”and I suppose he thought it would look like boasting. What's happening there in the boat?”

”It looks as though they had started out to sea,” Colin answered, handing back the gla.s.s.

”That's what's the matter!” the angler said. ”By Jonah's whale, how she is flying through the water!”

The two watched the boat until a turn of the cliff hid it from sight and then, Colin, turning round, saw that the steamer was nearly at the pier, close enough for him to distinguish his mother and sister waiting there and waving to attract his attention. He signaled enthusiastically in reply, and in a few minutes the steamer was alongside the wharf.

The greeting was most exciting, for the boy was simply bursting with news, and there had been a good deal of anxiety felt by his parents on his behalf while he had been wandering in the Behring Sea. But their talk was broken in upon by an enthusiastic angler friend, who begged Mrs. Dare to come to the extreme end of the pier and watch the battle with the big tuna.

”Oh, Mother,” eagerly said the boy, ”do you mind if I jump in a boat so that I can go out and watch Father better? I'm sure he wouldn't object.”

”I think I would like to have you with me for a little while, Colin,”

his mother said with a gentle smile, ”after you have been away so long.

But you are just the same, after all, eager to do everything immediately. I know you would be happier in going, so you can desert us if you like.”

”I don't mean that, Mother!” said the boy, feeling a twinge of self-reproach.

”No, I know. But you can tell us all the rest of your adventures when you get back. Lucy quite thinks that you have become a sort of 'Robinson Crusoe.'”

Colin gave his little sister--of whom he was very fond--an un.o.bserved hug, and then fairly sped down to the end of the pier and called a boatman to take him off. The boatman, who was a native of the place, and to whom everything connected with angling was an old story, laughed at the boy's excitement.

”Goin' to catch a tuna with your hands, sir?” he asked, seeing that the boy was not carrying any fis.h.i.+ng-tackle.

”No,” the boy answered, ”but I just came in on the steamer and, as we pa.s.sed the point, saw Father's boat, and he seemed to have something big on the line, so I want to go out and see the fun.”

”I heard Major Dare had a tuna this mornin',” the boatman said, casting off and starting the little engine, ”although there haven't many of 'em showed up yet this season. Are you his son?”