Show v 9 M adventurers CLUB B 4 HEADLINES FROM THE LI LIVES VIES OF PEOPLE LIKE L F I 1 human bait by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter H HELLO ELLO everybody you know boys and girls fishing in a harmless sport and perfectly safe just so long as you dont get things mixed up the way tony Ben civen did in all the fishing ive ever seen done the fisherman stays in the boot boat and uses a worm or another fish or maybe just a hunk of salt pork for bait but tony follow the usual procedure for bait he used him self and you know thero there are arc fish that dont hesitate to chew up even a roan man if they see him trailing along at the end of a fishing line tony lives in brooklyn N Y ho he likes brooklyn because there you con can get a swell swordfish steak in a restaurant without having to go out arid and catch it yourself tony is plenty nick of sword fishing there are enough dictators around waving swords nowadays without having th tho fish do it too and like a dictator a swordfish can drag you into trouble faster aster than almost anything else on earth or in the water at least that was tonys experience tony says ho he never did want to go on that trip in the first place ile ho had just arrived in avalon on catalina Cata llna island off tho the coast of california and he know any more about deep sea fishing than the mayor of knows about the north pole but hi his friend tom martin talked him into it and on the morning of august 17 1931 they set out in a power boat for san clemente island about thirty five miles away then tony got ills his first strike when they reached the north side aide of san clemente tom showed tony how to bait hla his hook book and how to handle his fenc then they began cruising and looking tor far swordfish tony says they cruised for two hours before they saw one and it was a half hour after that before tony got his first strike that strike says bays tony almost yanked me clear out of the boat there was a tremendous tug on oa the line and I 1 caught my balance just in time behind we ime I 1 could hear tom yelling instructions and I 1 began reeling in my line I 1 reeled in until an other violent jerk told me that the he fish was diving for the bottom and then still following toms instructions I 1 let the line reel out oat again by this time my hands were raw and blistered and I 1 was panting pantin 9 from the exertion when the line was waa almost all out tom shouted to me to reel in again and slowly laboriously I 1 began hauling that swordfish back to the surface I 1 must have had him almost to the top when n suddenly denly the line went slack again A second later I 1 heard a hellish roar and the water burst apart close to the boat the swordfish shot hot out of the water like dikea a bombshell and tell fell back again with a loud splash then it was waa off again in a series of mad plunges taking most of the une line with it torn tom yelled its it a beauty and it was it was every bit of 0 eleven feet long and it must have weighed close to bour hundred pounds and just then the fish turned suddenly in the water and charged straight tor for the boath tom yelled to tony to haul in the line and tony forgot about the reel and began hauling it in hand over hand in the ibe excitement of the moment he notice that the line had become tangled around his foot that swordfish was taking liking all his attention at ai the last moment it veered missing the boat by a fraction of an inch and then tony felt a tug at his entangled foot he was knocked clean off his pins and be tore fore he realized what had happened he was in the water choking and gasping foil air being dragged along at the end of the line overboard among tho the sharks says het he in vain I 1 tried to untangle the line around my footland foo tand in vain I 1 tried to break tho the strong cord down down I 1 was dragged by that diving divine fish and I 1 thought my lungs would burst before itshok it shot to tho the top again and then while I 1 was still fighting for air I 1 became avaro of an oven even deadlier menace A number of them swimming nearby dim ghostly 0 shapes in tho the water suddenly tony realized that he was waa no longer being dragged he looked toward we the swordfish and saw the reason he had come to the surface now and there was the fish less than two hundred feet away charging straight at him tony drew in a deep breath this looked like the end and he was getting ready to mee meet tIt it but the swordfish never reached him halfway in its course it was met by two or three darting streaks of gray THE SHARKS I 1 what wha a battle that was says tony the rho fierce struggle threw up mountains of water and then the line began to drag me into that mad maelstrom I 1 was getting clo closer and closer when suddenly it lt snapped probably slashed jy shark teeth then tree free for the first time I 1 looked for or the boat it was coming toward me at a last fast clip but it was too late for at the same time I 1 noticed that atit two triangular fins were cutting the water around rn me in circles circles that were getting smaller with every turn bump on the head and rescue just the some same tony began swimming toward the boat the circling fins were now so close to him that he could see the bodies of the sharks suddenly one of them darted madly he felt its body touch his foot as it swam beneath him and he shive shivered red that boat ever going to reach him the other shark would charge at any moment he says it bad turned on its side jaws gaping I 1 tried to steel my nerves for the inevitable finish churning the water going to keep this one off lie was ready for the kill I 1 heard a roar and a rush of water behind me and remembered tho the other shark be fore ore I 1 could turn something struck my head and that Is the last I 1 remember but when tony opened his eyes again he was in the boat and tom was pouring whisky down hs h s throat it was the boat that had given him that bump on an the head and it arrived any too soon for tom had had to fight the shark off with a gaff hook while he dragged tonys unconscious body out of the water tony says he looked over the side and saw nothing but a couple of fins circling the water where the swordfish had been a few moments before and when he resolved that thereafter hed get his swordfish in a restaurant served up on a plate with a piece of lemon and a little parsley this business of being shark bait was no fun at all no adventure Is any fun until after it Is all over service |