16 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



most affectionate sympathy which is inspired by 

 watching anything done superlatively well by some- 

 one who has tremendous fun in doing it. Right 

 under my feet these friendly creatures now frol- 

 icked, so close that the lift and fall of the ship, 

 sometimes synchronizing with their motion, made 

 me feel that I was riding one of the powerful curved 

 backs that slid from water to air and back again 

 so smoothly as to throw scarcely a drop of spray. 

 The torpedo bodies, perfectly fashioned for just 

 this, accurately held the appointed distance from 

 the ship and seemed not to move a muscle. Only 

 close scrutiny revealed the terrific power of almost 

 imperceptible strokes of the broad tail flanges. 



My instant reaction to a school of dolphins is 

 an irresistible desire to shout, and this, being the 

 first combination of pulpit and dolphins, made me 

 excitedly wishful for the laboratory toilers. I was 

 too selfish to leave this delightful post in search 

 of the rest, so I lifted up my voice in what seemed 

 fruitless shrieks against the towering ship's side. 



Presently a head peered anxiously over the rail 

 far above me, and seeing that my cries were not 

 for help but for appreciation, vanished for a mo- 

 ment and reappeared with an augmented audience. 

 This was still in such an early stage of the cruise 

 that the Captain suffered almost hourly pangs of 

 apprehension by mistaking screams of enthusiasm 

 for calls for succor. Long before the end of the six 

 months' voyage nothing less than the wail of a 

 banshee would have attracted his attention. 



The capacity of the pulpit being three, two of 



