Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/316

Rh Spearing the Great Sturgeon This water game is 'exceedingly 'popular and is especially good for public exhibition, being spectacular and full of amusement and excitement.

The outfit needed is:

(1) A sturgeon roughly formed of soft wood; it should be about three feet long and nearly a foot thick at the head. It may be made realistic, or a small log pointed at both ends will serve.

(2) Two spears with six-inch steel heads and wooden handles (about three feet long). The points should be sharp, but not the barbs. Sometimes the barbs are omitted altogether. Each head should have an eye to which is attached twenty feet of one quarter inch rope. On each rope, six feet from the spearhead, is a fathom mark made by trying on a rag or cord.

(3) Two boats with crews. Each crew consists of a spearman, who is captain, and one or two oarsmen or paddlers, of whom the after one is the pilot. All should be expert swimmers or else wear life-belts during the game.

The Game.—Each boat has a base or harbor; this is usually part of the shore opposite that of the enemy; or it obviates all danger of collision if the boats start from the same side. The sturgeon is left by the referee's canoe at a point midway between the bases. At the word "Go!" each boat leaves its

base and, making for the sturgeon, tries to spear it, then drag it by the line to his base. When both get their spears into it the contest becomes a tug of war until one of the spears pull put.