Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-06-24

pom. about six feet long and as broad
shouldered as an OK. will just about do
up any ordinary angler who happens 20
nook one of these swimming earth
quakes. The description of this kind
OF sport. though. thrilled Col. Bill. and
he then and thereupon determined TO
look into this hitherto hidden gulf
sport as soon as he touched his native
city.
And he did. Moreover. he ran
across a fishing friend who knew the
ways of the tarpon and had collected
thousand dollars worth of fine tar
pom tackle. all of which he put at the
disposal OF Col. Bill for any length OF
time
You can catch EN- or the old pier"
said the friend. and all the bait you
need is n large smell
Col. Bill Sterrett took the tackle and
the instructions with a calm mind. and
on dull afternoon started of for the
old pier without letting any one know
where he was going. He found that
the old pier" was nothing but a long
succession of piles closely driven into
the water. so that he could walk out
! on their tops until he seemed to be
fuil mile from shore. And there he
! sat down, legs dangling, and. having
iiREed up his friends expensive rod
! and reel and line. stuck on one Of the
/ nnest latest and most entfcing look
/ tossed into the water with all the skill
OF man who had angled for catfish all
his life-and awaited
After a bit he saw what resembled A
huge torpedo shooting through the
| water in the direction of his line. Ii
! was positively the largest most ac-
! tive and altogether most formidable
ana dangerous close-range marine life
! 1oi Sterrett had ever seen. and what
was more, II was coming directly to-
ward the line and smelt dangled by
Col. Sterrett himself. All this, or
| course. was almost instantaneous, but
Col. Sterretts mind was just as active
as the tarpon. and he had lengthy
but extremely fast-thinking bee.
He said to himself:
Here / am. full a mile from town.
on the end of a half-built pier with
some one expensive tackle in my hand.
| with lots of friends that l want to see
before | die-and nobody on earth
/ knows I'm out here"
| SO. with a quick glance at the on
rushins tarpon, he began to pull that
sfnelt toward himself as fast as he
| could get IT. hoping and praying all the
time he could beach it before the tar
pom took 1t. For a wonder he did get
It out of water in time to save it from
the naval battle which would have en-
sued had the tarpon ever felt that
nook in his mouth. And then. undoinK
the tackle. he strolled briskly and
happily back to town, via the sunken
! piles, and has never since hankered
4 after tarpon.
l
|
/ At Fort Myer few days ago one Of
the companies of Officers Reserve Corps
students was receiving instruction in
some phase Of the army rifle. One Of
| the young men impressed the instructor
| as being bored to death with the talk.
and. furthermore. he actually left the
circle before the instructor had finished
! talking.
You did not seem to care for my lee
/ ture." said the officer to the student a
little later.
oh. yes, sir: l am very much inter-
ested in the rife l have shot great
many of them"
The army man was a bit sore
How many times have you fired a
rifle in the past year?" he asked.
Il couldn't say. but probably about
| 5000 times"
| The army officer didn't believe him.
and plainly intimated it, A civilian who
had fired a rifle 5000 times in year
was unheard of. an impossibility.
Where have you fired a rifle any such
! number Of times? he asked. sharply.
Why. it's this way" answered the
youth, my father is Lewis. the manu-
facturer of the Lewis machine gun, and
am in charge of his tests. l am a spe-
cialist in army rifles"
oh" said the army officer-and he
walked away EARL GOODWIN