Show adventurers club april fools tragedy by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter yon all heard about the girl who plays a man like a fish jon a line well heres a case where that situation was reversed distinguished adventurer patricia root of new york city has come here to tell the story of how a man once played her like a fish on a line more pat root a bit sore about it As a matter of fact ashes darned grateful to the guy she would have died if he well sort of made a sucker out of her fish lines can be pretty tough on fish but this one meant life to patricia it happened on april fools fool day in 1933 and you can forget about the date because theres there no fooling about this adventure pat wa was visiting in the virgin islands way down in the west indies and as a our story opens she and five other people were starting out to go tarpon fishing but not tarpon fishing as ag most people picture it says pat we set et out ont in a boat from the island of st thomas to thatch cay a small key about a mile off shore but there we left the boat tor for we were going to do our fishing from the shore pat began tarpon fishing from a rocky ledge pat was just fifteen at the time the others were older there was john and his wife maria carl and two native virgin islanders wilmot and paul they crossed the key to a spot where a high cliff ran right down into the sea there was a little ledge at the base of the cliff just big enough for one person to fish from and there they fished tor for the big hundred pound fighting tarpon taking turns with the line down there on that narrow ledge it was late afternoon before it came pats pat turn to fish she sh clambered down to the ledge and was a bit frightened at the th way the waves boiled up almost to the spot where she was standing says she we should never have gone fishing that day there was waa a ground sea running and a ground sea has a peculiar motion none of va us had noticed that the ocean was retting getting rougher at least I 1 until 1 I turned to look up at the others sitting on the top of the cliff and suddenly i found myself engulfed in water she was washed into the shark infested sea A huge wave had leapt up and flooded the ledge pat was standing on before she could catch herself she was washed off into the deep water for the moment she says 1 I realize the terrible hopelessness of my position I 1 heard a splash beside me and saw wilmot come to the surface he had bad jumped from the top of the cliff wilmot put an arm around me and swam with me toward the ledge we reached it clutched clutch td to it desperately but neither of us could climb the sheer precipitous side of the rock wall that led to it it was only then that I 1 realized that we get back on thore shore again again and again wilmot carried rat pat to the cliffside but each time the dashing waves washed them back Wil strength was beginning to fall 12 a I 1 ij 4 T U I 1 carl tossed the strong tarpon line into the sea him but he still labored frantically he knew what pat that there were sharks in those waters and there a moment to lose fishing for human lives in storm swept waters at length ashe as tie reached the ledge tor for the last time a wave washed him upon it but by that time he was too weak to pull pat after him she was washed back out to sea while wilmot totally exhausted lay on the ledge until carl came down and carried him to the top of the cliff I 1 j while carl was carryl carrying Dg wilmot back to the cliff top john down on the ledge was tryl trying to reach pats outstretched hands A moment later another waie wae carried carric tl him off into the water too the waves were now rising so high that it was dangerous to stand on the ledge but carl tried it no sooner had he carried wilmot to the top of the cliff than he started down again this time with a strong tarpon line in his hand he tossed that into the water john caught it and looped it around pat it got twist ed around my neck pat says and for a moment I 1 just hung there A wave covered me and the line fell off when I 1 came up I 1 caught it again and twisted it around my finger and then began the queerest bit of lifesaving life saving you ever saw up on the ledge stood carl fishing rod in his hand slowly bringing pat in toward shore as if she were a fish that line strong enough to sustain her weight so carl played her reeling in as she rose on the crest of a wave and letting the line out as she fell again the waves finally tossed her up to safety minutes passed while this strange game went on pat began J wonder it if carl would ever get her ashore she was sore and bruised where the waves had dashed her body against the rocks the thin line wrapped around her hand band was all but cutting her fingers in two 1 I was beginning to bleed from my arms she says when I 1 heard john shout tor for help three times then there came a ton long silence I 1 know it then but john was done for A shark had gotten him more minutes passed pat was gasping for breath ready to faint from the torture of that cutting line then carl took a desperate chance shouting to her to keep up her courage he began to reel in the line inch by inch the she neared the ledge it was almost within her reach she had her hand on it it then at the crucial moment a wave came to her rescue and washed her bodily up on the ledge carl carried her back to the top of the cliff bruised exhausted and covered with blood since that day says pat 1 I have forgotten the real meaning of april fools day to we me it has become the anniversary of an awful tragedy t 0 be aric sr ic |