East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1916-09-22

did you ever cut hair?'
mo, but I once took a course in
sculpture and clay modelling"
THAT ought to help some. Sup-I
pose you try it,"
With a small comb. rusty pair OF
shears. and a ships paint brush the
task was performed-to my eye with
neatness and dispatch, certainly with
dispatch.
We were now we'll into the Gulf
Stream Its blue water was patched
with yellowish seaweed, the "tropic
grape" (fucus natans) of Humboldt,
strung out in long lines by the wind,
We skirted only the northernmost
edges Of this sea vineyard, the great
center of which lies in that mysteri,
Gus ocean swamp, the Sargasso Sea
In that almost pulseless center of the
Atlantic floats this weedy mush
swept by the Gulf Stream from the
shores of the West Indies. Sailors
say that many a barnacled, seaweed
tressed derelict floats in the mysteri-
Gus center Of this fate-meshed sea.
Henry quickly improvised dip-net
and soon had specimens of this ber-
ried soda-and- -potash-incrusted weed
aboard. They abound in sea life. II
found diminutive fish and a peculiar
little red and yellowish creature,
seemingly half animal, half fish. A
sharp horn protruded above its eyes;
its fins in appearance and motion re-
sembled legs, the two front ones
growing in a single limb half their
length. It's only gill-like apertures
visible were where these side appur-
tenances Joined the body, thus
breathing via its leg-like fins.
Out on this vast deep, the smallest
thing aroused interest. We fed, al
most from hand, the little Mother
Carey's chickens ever following in our
wake, or watched a gull wing its dark
flight across the crimson afterglow,
Little gelatinous Portuguese Men-of-
War" balasted by their maroon col
cred tentacles, bobbed buoyantly by
in purple-carmine iridescence. One
was transferred from our net to a
buCkel OF SAT- water lul Sluuy'
mo sir" remarked Henry, as he
watched me sketch the beautiful spe-
cimen. when you find anything col
ored like that it's poisonous, Those
colors amt natural"
Our schooner was so low in the wa
ter that we often leaned oversize after
meals and used the Atlantic for a
finger-bowl; she was so small that
two like her placed within the hide Of
one of the great whales which sported
about us would still have left enough
room for our crew to play tag Perch
ed high up in the swaying cross-trees
often looked down on the tiny
floating wooden tray, the subjective
center Of vast liquid disk of azure.
One felt intensely that he was an in
tegral part of the life about him, The
sudden splash of storm spray on my
cheek helped me to understand why
the porpoises reveled in whipping by
ih a smother of foam against the wind;
prone on the deck the first warm
balm Of the sun on my body made me
feel akin to the motionless sea-turtle
sleeping on the glazy calm.
The scudding schooner, with all she
could carry, seemed to Outvie those
glistening bits Of opalescence-flying-
fish--which, skimming the wave-crests
like ocean dragon-flies, occasionally
flew aboard Now and again, slant
ing shark fins carved their way paral-
lei with our craft. When tempted to
plunge overheard as the schooner lay
motionless on the almost impercept-
ihle heave and breath Of the sea, these
gruesome man-eaters deferred us, for
every sailor knows the shadowy side
OF the keel is often the sharks favors
ite lair.
Floating spars barnacle- covered and
green with slime, bespoke long voy-
ages; a palm trunk waited us visions
Of the Trade-hlown Indies from
whence Il had come; while metal
caisen apparently floating mine, we
Just escaped running down. So passed