Evening star., 1942-10-11

leap clear of the water in their
voracious dashes at the smaller fry,
which also jumped wildly in their
frantic endeavor to get away.
This performance always caused
lot of excitement and conjecture
among us. We were always hoping
that one of the smaller fish, which
seemed to leap blindly away from
their pursuers. would drop into the
boat. But none ever did,. and we
were unable to catch another with
the knife.
We were not too far engrossed In
our own suffering to appreciate the
teeming sea life about us. On calm
evenings, about sundown. sometimes
the entire surface of the ocean as
far as We could see would be one
seething mass of small fish. They
tumbled about each other almost as
thick as sardines in a seine. The
fiat, MINDLESS water, green and
smooth as bottle glass in the fleet
ing moments just after sunset, would
literally roar with their frantic
churning as large fish made his
rush from the depths and jumped
high in the air. The instant the
big fsh's body cleared the surface
Of the water on his upward surge.
the small fry would calm down until
they saw another big one coming.
One Large Variety.
One variety of the large fish
always ran three and four in pack.
They were built like bass and looked
as if they weighed IS to 100 pounds
each. They leaped to feet
out of the water. usually coming
out at an angle of about As degrees.
The small fish were not so terribly
agitated by these as they were by
the cne that was shaped like a
torpedo. This vicious creature was
about 4 feet long and weighed per-
haps 60 pounds. He had a pretty
blue stripe down his side, which
only accentuated his murderous ap-
pearance. His powerful lunge shot
him out Of the water almost verti-
cally. and sometimes he assembled
to height which l estimated to be
30 feet. When one Of these was
jumping, the sman fish were in the
greatest fear, and made the water
boil as they ran for their lives. At
these times the sharks gathered
around in droves to look for
wounded fish. They seemed to get
a great many. The powerful leaper
appeared either to capture or wound
a fish on nearly every run.
We saw one school of large por-
poises. They came up and PLAYED
around the boat a few minutes, then
were off. We never saw them again.
The birds had a circus when
schools Of minnows surfaced. There
were several varieties of birds. but
the most plentiful were the terms
and the white bird with three long
feathers in his tail This beautiful
little fellow was diver. He would
get up quite high and shoot straight
down at his prey. He seemed quite
independent, associating only with
his mate, while the other varieties
liked to gather in flocks for COM
pany.
AIrald OF Large Fish.
All these birds, except the alba
tross. were very evidently afraid of
the larger fish. They never remained
on the surface of tho water longer
than a second or so-in fact, they
stayed on the waves just long
enough to grab a minnow and take
off again.
Always after long. hard rain
the birds were obviously exhausted.
They had to exert themselves to the
utmost to stay in the air until their
feathers dried and relieved them of
the weigns of water. At these times
many OF them attempted to land on
our boat to rest, but invariably were
frightened off bY, the sight of men
AS they f1apped away In laborious
flight. their chirruping was pitiful
BY far the most majestic of all
and like the shark. entirely un-
afraid-as he wheeled and circled
in unending turns and dives, was
the mighty, albatross. He is the
undisputed monarch of the air.
Like all seafaring men, I have
paid some attention to the super
stitions of my trade. Many times
as I watched this lordly bird I re-
called the Ancient Mariners curse
and the despairing line. with my
crossboW I shot the albatross." L
still waited for the second one to
come, but so far the albatrosses
that approached our boat were i'm
personal in their relations with us.
This regal voyager of the air has
an enormous Widespread. He is
built like a soaring glider, which
he emulates in his flight. In fairly
high wind he hardly ever moves his
wings, but takes advantage of the
upcurrents from the big swells to
sustain him. His graceful move
ments and almost unbelievable agil-
lty in maneuvering were a never
ending source of pleasure to an av-
lator such as I. I sometimes ex-
pected to see him fall off into a spin.
but his sensitivity OF the point of
equilibrium was so great that he
could merely slide shade from one
wing, go into short slip and pick
up speed again in a few feet. thus
avoiding what looked like a sure
crash into the water.
The more the albatross impressed
me with his aerial magic as I
watched him the more I came to
appreciate the qualities the Ancient
Mariner must have seen in the bird
to hold him sacred.
1t was the next day that we en-
countered the fateful second alba
tross" had been half-expecting.
Continued tomorrow.
Copyright, 1912, by Henry Holt Il Co. Inc