Then began such a contest as neither of the boys had ever witnessed before. With furious rushes the great fish darted first in one direction and then in another, and the reel on Bob’s rod “sang” as the line was drawn from it. Bob was standing erect now, and, grasping the rod tightly in one hand, with the other attended to the reel. At times the strong rod would be drawn beneath the water, and Bob was compelled to exert all his strength merely to hold on, while the light boat was drawn swiftly over the bay, and George was doing his best to assist the eager boy with his oars.
“Look out! Look out!” the boatman called, quickly. “He’s coming straight for us! Reel in! Reel in! Don’t give him an inch of slack or you’ll lose him! Hadn’t you better let me take the rod?”
“No,” replied Bob, decidedly. “I’ll get or lose him myself.”
The line was now loose in the water, and as Bob turned the reel in desperate haste, there was a great fear in his heart that the fish had torn himself away; but when at last he had secured all the slack, there was another savage pull and the line went darting through the water once more.
Five minutes, ten minutes passed, and still the exciting contest continued. Bob would draw the powerful fish farther in toward the boat, but every time the muscallonge would dart away again, and sometimes every yard of the line would be drawn from the whirling reel before he would pause in his flight.
“Tucker him out! Tucker him out! It’s the only way to get him,” said George. “Don’t you think you’d better let me take the pole now?”
But Bob was still determined, and the fierce contest was not relaxed. Hither and thither, now up and now down the bay, the fish darted in his efforts to free himself, but Bob was still master. Jock was an interested spectator, but was unable, seated as he was in the stern, to render any assistance to his friend, even if Bob had desired any.
When a quarter of an hour had passed, it became evident that the fish was becoming tired. The lunges still continued, but not so much of the line was paid out now, and every time Bob reeled in he drew his victim nearer the boat.
At last there came a time when he could reel steadily, and, to his intense delight, he could feel the heavy fish following the line. Nearer and nearer came the muscallonge, and Jock, who was leaning over the edge and peering down into the depths of the clear water, suddenly exclaimed,—