BENEATH TROPIC SEAS 



seems impenetrable at arm's length, and yet sud- 

 denly reveals the moon and distant stars. 



As I climbed I dislodged several coral boulders 

 which fell slowly past me. An avalanche under- 

 sea could only be described in slow motion terms. 

 Small fish, like vultures about a fallen chamois, 

 gather at once, but unlike even the swiftest vul- 

 ture, they are around and under and atop of the 

 rolling coral heads long before the latter have 

 come to rest. 



For the next many minutes I used very little of 

 the oxygen from the air faithful Serge was pump- 

 ing down to me, for I sat quiet, barely breathing. 

 Out of the blueness, blurred forms came, small and 

 large. I was reminded of the time I was caught 

 at early dusk in a salt plain in south Ceylon, and 

 crouched, watching several foggy forms, hoping 

 they were boars, fearful of their being wild buffalo. 

 Only now I did not fear, I simply watched with 

 the same absolute concentration and joy which 

 every entrance into this no-man's-land filled me. 

 Before long, I saw more clearly, and a mob ot 

 huge parrotfish came into full view, working slowly 

 toward me, feeding and idly wandering about as 

 they came. They drifted around a coral spur, but 

 before the last straggler vanished, the vanguard 

 appeared again out of the distant brilliance, and 

 now their numbers were augmented. I counted 

 up to one hundred and thirty-nine, and then 

 realized that three hundred would be within 

 reason. None were less than a foot, while most 



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