The sun., 1919-10-26
FLORIDA KEYS MEN.
LIKED BY TOURISTS
Cordial Relations Between Ma
tives and Sparsely Settled
Places and Anglers.
INCIDENTS TELL STORY
Doctor Gives Up Midnight Tar
pom Fishing to Set Broken
Ankle With Crate Splints. =,
BY ALLIGATOR LIGHT.

Cruising about in Florida waters.
poking into out of the way places and
stopping at shacks whose occupants sell
dom see strangers, is always interest
ing, and little incidents occur which
| leave an impression on the mind and
provide a peg upon which to hang pleas
ant "reminiscences.
One day while crossing a fat where
the water was nowhere more than four
feet deep, quite a number of tarpon
were seen. Having no bait the launch
was run to a fish house about three
miles further along and some mullets
purchased
The keeper of this fish house proved
to be a former telegraph operator who,
In December, 1918, had been ill with the
"fiu"; recovery left him too weak to
work indoors. in an overheated and
poorly ventilated Office and he had come
to Florida and secured Job as fish
house keeper at $50 a month and grub.
doing his own cooking. He had held tho
place four months, and was brown and
healthy looking; and he would put in
| two or three months more before resum-
ing wire work. This man had never
caught tarpon, but as the launch left
he suggested the use of a float in still
fishing for them. and an hour later his
suggestion was acted upon and found to
be both practical and valuable.
Experienced With Ex-soIdiers.
Once some net fishermen who had just
made n haul were met. They had three
or four hundred pounds of pompano in
their boat. Regret being expressed that
the lack of cooking utensils alone pre-
vented the immediate cooking of couple
of these delicious fish brought the infor-
nation, quite as n matter of course, that
a shanty boat was moored a couple of
miles away. and that the occupants
would be glad to offer the use of their
stove and frying pan,
Some pompano were purchased and
the launch was headed In the direction
the shanty boat was said to be. A little
doubt persisted as to what reception
| would be met with. This doubt proved
to be entirely unwarranted the occu-
pants of the shanty boat were cordial,
and not only insisted upon cooking the fish
but also prepared dish of French fried
| sweet potatoes and served coffee with
sugar and condensed milk
After eating. a pleasant hour was
passed smoking and talking. The two
young men on this scow were ex-sol-
diers: they had hired the shanty boat
and a motor launch and were fishing
slack water each tide for trout weak
fsh) and loafing and sleeping between
tides
The price received for the fish caught
was eight cents a pound Quilted: this
was considered a satisfactory price and
they were earning sufficient money TO
pay all expenses and enough over to
provide each with good outfit OF
clothes and a little ready cash when
they saw fit to look for work at their
old jobs One had been a moulder and
the other a trolley motorman.
They appreciated the gift of some
cigars and expressed great pleasure
when given a ten days old copy OF the
SUNDAY SUN with the picture supple
ment.
Doctor Leaves Fishing to Ala Man,
The people met with were always
friendly and more than willing TO as
sist a stranger. often at considerable
inconvenience to themselves; and 1t is
only just to say that tourists appreciate
this courtesy and endeavor to recipro-
cate, as the following incident may in
dictate.
one night about midnight while drift
ing for tarpon in Boca Grande Pass a
launch came alongside and inquiry wa:
made for doctor. About s o'clock that
evening a member of fish house crew
living in a shack about twenty mile:
from Boca Grande. had slipped on a
fresh caught fish and fallen, breaking ar
ankle. One OF the crew had gone tc
Boca Grande for aid but the doctor
was away on call some where up the
line and the time of his return was very
uncertain as there would be no pas
senger train until noon the next day
and possibly no freight train before that
time. so the messenger was going from
boat to boat al the Pass on the chance
that there might be a doctor among the
anglers.
He found one. a man from Phila'
delphia. who listened to the messenger:
story. borrowed a handful OF cigars from
the angler In the nearest launch an6
with the side OF an orange crate from
which TO fashion splints started at once
to render what service he could. 1t was
three hour run in the launch to reach
the injured man and n four hour rur
from there back to the hotel, the ser,
vice OF course was rendered gratuitously
and the doctor made a second call before
turning the case over TO the local rrscti
TONER
Watermelon Apprecia ton.
One day a launch was noticed 10 bt
at anchor where boat should not b,
anchored and a run over TO II disclosed
|
The boatman had drifted for some time
and about three hours earlier haC
anchored to walt until another boa
should come along: he could do nothing
else.
An emergency set OF dry cells already
connected up was passed over and in q
couple of minutes the engine was primet
and turning over, the anchor was raised
and with a thank you and a wave OF
of the hand that boat went on its way
Two days later a set of dry cells and q
prize winning watermelon. buster
about a yard long and a foot through
were left at the hotel "for the party who
was in the launch Hilda last Tuesday
That melon tasted Just as delicious as
such an imposing looking melon should
taste, 1t was luscious, more than a dozer
guests Toasted on II. It was al
evidence of appreciation. tactfully made
of the slight service rendered: neither
party even knew the name of the other
Is 1t to be wondered at that cordia
relations exist between theN natives liv
Ing on these sparsely populated keys and
the sportsmen tourists?
A Nip on the beach.