A tanker in ballast went past to seaward, rocking us in its wake. Water boiled under my bait, and there was a slight click as the line snapped off the outrigger.

“Mackerel,” Holt said laconically.

I lowered the rod tip till the slack was gone, and then raised it, setting the hook. It was a small one, not over three pounds. “Good marlin bait,” Sam said, as he grasped the leader and dropped it in the box. I glanced at Mrs. Forsyth. She was lighting a cigarette. The fish appeared to bore her. Well, it wasn’t much of a fish.

An hour went by. I landed a barracuda of about fifteen pounds, and then a bonito that came in badly slashed by barracuda. She had no action at all, but she didn’t appear to mind. She seemed to be lost in thought. We went on trolling. I watched my bait.

“Bird,” Sam said behind us.

“I see him,” Holt replied. The beat of the engine picked up, and we swung in a sharp turn.

Mrs. Forsyth glanced round at me. “We aren’t going to chase birds, are we?”

“Man-o”-war,” I said. “A frigate bird.” I stood up and looked forward, and spotted him. He was about a half-mile ahead, off the starboard bow. She stuck her rod in the holder on the rail and came over to look too.

“When you see one hovering like that,” I told her, “he’s usually following a fish—”

“Why?” she asked.

“Table scraps,” I explained. “When the fish locates a school of bait and starts to feed, he drives them to the surface. That gives the bird a chance at ’em.”

She nodded. “I see.”

Captain Holt was starting forward. “Probably dolphin,” he said. “I see some dunnage.”

“How about taking it on the port side?” I asked.

“Sure.”

”Get set,” I told Mrs. Forsyth. She sat down in the chair and I fitted the rod into the gimbal for her. “There’s a big plank up ahead, and we’re going to pass it on your side. If he hits, lower your rod and reel in till the slack’s gone, and then strike once by raising the tip—”

“How do they know it’s a dolphin?” she asked, watching me with that intent expression on her face.

“They don’t actually,” I said. “It’s just an educated guess.