Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-09-24
IDYLS OF THE SEA.
Strange Meditations of the Lookout
in the Crows Nest.
From the Spect ,tor.

in the Crows Nest.
From the Spect ,tor.
AS if ecstatic in their appreciation ot the
Punishment of night, school of porpo!scs
five thousand strong indulge in riotous
gambols. Leapng nigh into the bright air,
their shining, 1.-THE bodies all a-quiver with
pure joy of abundant life. they churn tie
findly sea into foam, leaving in their mad.
fToicsome rush a wide track of white on
the smoothness behind them. So f;wless
| is the calm that even the tiny argosy OF
the nautilus is tempted to rise and spread
| its silken SAIL a lovely gauzy curve just a
shade SO lighter in hue than tie sap
phre of the sea, and SO discernibe from
| that height to the practiced eye. In quick
succession more and more appear until a
fairy fleet of hundreds is sailing as if
| bearing Titania and her train so some en-
chanted isles, where never wind blows
loudly. But 10. as If at a signal from a
piSmy admiral. the squadron have van
ished bubbewlse. From wnere they lately
rode in mimic pageant rises ghos.:ke a
vast flock of fylng-fish. the hum of whose
vibrant wing-finS ascend TO the ear. Many
| thousands in number, glistening in the
sunblaze like FURNISHED silver they glide
through the air with incredible speed, the
whole shoal rising and falling in wavelike
undulations if in the performance of
preconcerted evolutions. They have been
flying upon plane of perhaps twenty feet
above the sea for some five hundred yards,
and are Just about to re-enter the water.
when beneath them appear the blazing
beauties of a school of dolphin mot the
dull-hued mammal, but the poet-beloved
tish). AT that dread sight the solid pha-
lanX breaks up, hurled back upon itself in
the disorder of deadly panic In little
groups, in single fugitiveS, they scatter to
every point of the compass. a hopelessly
cisorganized mob, whereof the weaker fall
TO swift oblivion IN the gaping jaws of
their brilliant, vigorous foes beneath. The
main body sheer off, sadly thinned in a
fresh direction, long, quiverng raiders
launching themselves in hot pursuit. upon
their rear. devourrg as they rush. until
caters and eaten disappear, and the battle
field lies in placid beauty as if never dis
turbed. one lowering bird, a BIO sun"
with long, slender tail and feathers of
purest white, circles around on unmovirg
outspread pinions, slowly turning his
pretty head with dark. injurious eyes upon
the strange biped 50 awkwarGly perched
| in his dominions Of upper air. Whence and
when did he come? y moment since and
he Was not. Did the vacant ether produce
| him? Yet another moment and he is gone
as he came, leaving behind him palnabIe
sense of loss.
But now all attention is concentrated
upon the horizon, where the trained eye
has caught a glimpse of something of
greater interest than either fish or bird A
series of tiny puffs. apparently of steam,
rises from the shining surface but so
evanescent That nothing but long practice
would discern them at so great a distance
l1regulatly, both to time and position
they appear, a shadowy procession of
falntest indefinite outlines, a band of brief
shadows. Yet upon them eager eyes are
bent in keenest attention. for they repre-
sent the possibilities of substantial gain
and bring the mind back from the realms
of pure romance with the swiftness of a
diving sea bird down to the hard necesS,-
ties of everyday life. They are the breath
OF marine mammalia, nghtieSt of oceans
citizens. and strangest of links between the
Inhabitants of land and sea A little keen
scrutiny, however reveals the disap2oint-
irs fact that those feathery phantoms
mark the presence of that special species
of whales which enjoy complete immunity
from attack, either from above or below.
Iheir marvellous agility, no less than the
eXiguous covering of fat to which they
have reduced the usually massive blubber
borne by their conSeners. gives abundant
reason why they should be thus unmo-
Tested. So they roam the teeming seas in
the enviable as Well as almost UNIQUE post
ton among the marine fauna of exemption
from death, except by sickness or old age,
as much as any sedatc 1aw-abidng citizen
Of London. They seem TO be well aware Of
their privileges, for they draw nearer TIE
ship with perfect confidence, needing her
huge shadow no more than if she were a
mass OF rock rising sheer from the ocean
bed, and incapable of harm to any of the
sea folk. From our lofty eyrie we watch
with keeIest interest the antics of these
great creatures their amatory gambols.
parental care elegant ease and keen sport
iveness Yonder pichald monster who
seems the patriarch Of the school after
basking placidly in the scorching rays of
the sun, now high in the heavens gravelv
turns a conference.-the elevating the rear
half of his body (some forty feet or sol out
of the water. Then with steady tremen-
dous strokes he beats the water. TIE hun
dred square feet of his tail falling fatty
with a reverberation like the sound Of
distant bombardment The Others leap
out of the water, sedately as becomes their
bulk, or roll over and over each other
Upon the surface, occasionally settling
down until they look like fish of faot or
so In length. They even dare to chafe their
barna cle-studded sides against the vessels
keel, sending a strange tremor through her
from stem to stern, which is even f,lt in
the crows nest But no one molests them
in any way; in fact, IT must be placed to
the whalers credit that he rarely takes life
for sport" though calcus as iron where
profit of any kind may be secured