Tales of Fishes

President of the Long Key Fishing Club Honorary Vice-President of the Tuna Club, Avalon
Author of “The U. P. Trail” “The Desert of Wheat” Etc.
Illustrated from Photographs by the author
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS New York and London
Tales of Fishes
Copyright 1919, by Harper & Brothers
Printed in the United States of America
Published June, 1919

Been to Avalon with Grey ... been most everywhere; Chummed with him and fished with him in every Sportsman’s lair. Helped him with the white Sea-bass and Barracuda haul, Shared the Tuna’s sprayful sport and heard his Hunter-call, Me an’ Grey are fishin’ friends.... Pals of rod and reel, Whether it’s the sort that fights ... or th’ humble eel, On and on, through Wonderland ... winds a-blowin’ free, Catching all th’ fins that grow ... Sportsman Grey an’ Me. Been to Florida with Zane ... scouting down th’ coast; Whipped the deep for Tarpon, too, that natives love th’ most. Seen the smiling, Tropic isles that pass, in green review, Gathered cocoanut and moss where Southern skies were blue. Seen him laugh that boyish laugh, when things were goin’ right; Helped him beach our little boat and kindle fires at night. Comrades of the Open Way, the Treasure-Trove of Sea, Port Ahoy and who cares where, with Mister Grey an’ Me! Been to Western lands with Grey ... hunted fox and deer. Seen the Grizzly’s ugly face with danger lurkin’ near. Slept on needles, near th’ sky, and marked th’ round moon rise Over purpling peaks of snow that hurt a fellow’s eyes. Gone, like Indians, under brush and to some mystic place— Home of red men, long since gone, to join their dying race. Yes ... we’ve chummed it, onward—outward ... mountain, wood, and Key, At the quiet readin’-table ... Sportsman Grey an’ Me.

To capture the fish is not all of the fishing. Yet there are circumstances which make this philosophy hard to accept. I have in mind an incident of angling tribulation which rivals the most poignant instant of my boyhood, when a great trout flopped for one sharp moment on a mossy stone and then was gone like a golden flash into the depths of the pool.