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Show ADVENTURERS' CLUB hi HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES V'M1' OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF! J "Human Bait" ? By FLOYD GIBBONS t Famous Headline Hunter , ' HELLO everybody: You know, boys and girls, fishh-- a harmless sport, and perfectly safe just so Ion '; you don't get things mixed up the way Tony Benciven ; In all the fishing I've ever seen done, the fisherman stai the boat, and uses a worm, or another fish, or maybe i ' hunk of salt pork, for bait. But Tony didn't follow the usual procedure. For bait, he us d self. And you know, there are fish that don't hesitate to chew ud man, If they see him trailing along at the end of a fishing lino Tony lives In Brooklyn, N. Y. He likes Brooklyn because th ' can get a swell swordfish steak in a restaurant, without having to"' '1 and catch it yourself. Tony is plenty sick of sword-flshing. Th '" enough dictators around waving swords nowadays without havf"-"' fish do it, too. And like a dictator, a swordfish can drag you Into tr faster than almost anything else on earth or in the water. At '? that was Tony's experience. ' . Tony says he never did want to go on that swordflshing trip h -i first place. He had just arrived in Avalon on Catalina island, of -coast of California, and he didn't know any more about deep-sea firman fir-man the mayor of Timbucktoo knows about the North Pole Bu"' friend, Tom Martin talked him into it, and on the morning of Au?u '-" 1931, they set out in a power boat for San Clemente island, about tl five miles away. "" Then Tony Got His First Strike. 'I When they reached the north side of San Clemente, Tom shr Tony how to bait his hook and how to handle his line. Then they b : " cruising and looking for swordfish. Tony says they cruised for hours before they saw one, and it was a half hour after that b Tony got his first strike. "That strike," says Tony, "almost yanked me clear out ot lit boat. There was a tremendous tug on the line, and I caught m "r balance just in time. Behind me I could hear Tom yelling ij-1 structions and I began reeling in my line. I reeled in until an 2 ; other violent jerk told me that the fish was diving for the bottom and then, still following Tern's instructions, I let the line reel ou'i; again. - j "By this time my hands were raw and blistered, and I was par ";' from the exertion. When the line was almost all out, Tom shoutt me to reel in again, and slowly, laboriously, I began hauling that sv-i fish back to the surface. I must have had him almost to the top i - suddenly the line went slack again. A second later I heard a hs -roar and the water burst apart close to the boat The swordfish -out of the water like a bombshell and fell back again with a loud sp Then it was off again, in a series of mad plunges, taking most ol -7 line with it. "Tom yelled: 'It's a beauty.' And it was. It was every b'-7 eleven feet long, and it must have weighed close to four hundred poi And just then, the fish turned suddenly in the water and charged stn" for the boat!" Tom yelled to Tony to haul in the line, and Tony forgot abouC" reel and began hauling it in hand-over-hand. In the excitement a moment he didn't notice that the line had become tangled arounr.1" foot. That swordfish was taking all his attention. At the last moms 1! veered, missing the boat by a fraction of an inch, and then Tonyf"." tug at his entangled foot He was knocked clean off his pins, am' ' j fore he realized what had happened he was in the water, choking gasping for air, being dragged along at the end of the line. Overboard Among the Sharks. -,- Says he: "In vain I tried to untangle the line around m; ; :: foot aud in vain I tried to break the strong cord. Down dom -: I was dragged by that diving fish, and I thought my lungs wouU : - burst before it shot to the top again. And then, while I was stil -L'; fighting for air, I became aware of an even deadlier menace Sharks! A number of them, swimming nearby, dim, ghoslh '-S. shapes in the water." ; Suddenly, Tony realized that he was no longer being dragged. - :p looked toward the swordfish and saw the reason. He had cometc-.-, surface now, and there was the fish, less than two hundred feet a v charging straight at him. Tony drew in a deep breath. This looked r-the r-the end, and he was getting ready to meet it But the swordfish n: - reached him. Halfway in its course it was met by two or three dal.-T streaks of gray. THE SHARKS! "What a battle that was." says Tony. "The fierce struggle tl . . up mountains of water. And then the line began to drag me into that .. maelstrom. I was getting closer and closer, when suddenly it snapp probably slashed by shark teeth. Then, free for the first time, for the boat It was coming toward me at a fast clip but it was 1 late. For at the same time I noticed that two triangular fins , ; cutting the water around me in circles circles that were getting sm; V with every turn." Bump on the Head and Rescue. -: Just the same, Tony began swimming toward the boat The cirt fins were now so close to him that he could see the bodies of the shs -1 Suddenly, one of them darted madly. He felt its body touch bis as it swam beneath him and he shivered. Wasn't "that boat -going to reach him? "The other shark would charge at any moment," he sars- "B' had turned on its side, jaws gaping. I tried to steel my nerves tot the inevitable finish. Churning the water wasn't going lo top t this one off. He was ready for the kill. I heard a roar and I - rush of water behind me and remembered the other shark. Be-fore Be-fore I could turn, something struck my head, and that IstlK , last I remember." - r; But when Tony opened his eyes again, he was in the boat and' .. , was pouring whisky down his throat It was the boat that had given -. . that bump on the head and it hadn't arrived any too soon. For' , )' had had to fight the shark off with a gaff hook while he dragged To unconscious body out of the water. Tony says he looked over the side and saw nothing but a coupl fins circling the water where the swordfish had been a few moment! ime. Ana mats when he resolved that thereafter he d got nls,;:. .; fish in a restaurant, served up on a plate with a piece of lemon and a. parsley. This business of being shark bait was no fun at all. No adventure is any fun until after It is all over. '.' 1 WNU Service. 1 |