70 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



a half knots, and that on the northern side one 

 and one-half knots. 



The orientation of our mean position in the rip 

 was, 



South from Cocos — 210 miles 

 Southwest from Panama — 400 miles 

 West from Ecuador — 340 miles 

 Northeast from Tower Island — 300 miles 



The trend of the rip on April first in 2° 5' 

 North Latitude, and 85° 53' West Longitude, was 

 southwest by west one-half west (242), and by 

 the afternoon of April second in 2° 8' North 

 Latitude, and 86° 4' West Longitude, had swung 

 to west by north one-half north (285), a shift of 

 forty-two degrees to the northward. 



The last view I had of the rip was a dramatic 

 and memorable one; five great, red-footed boobies 

 perched close together on a floating log. Four 

 were in the white adult plumage, and the fifth still 

 in immature brown. They paid no attention to 

 us, although they were less than fifty feet away, 

 doubtless considering the Arcturus merely a log 

 of greater size, and us, marooned fellow birds. As 

 I watched, the fin of a gigantic shark circled close 

 to the log, passing completely around it four times. 

 The birds paid no more attention to this than to us. 

 Slowly they drifted past and the sunset stained 

 their feathers a delicate salmon ; then night and dis- 

 tance swallowed them up, and I shall never know 

 more, either of the satisfying of the appetite of the 

 shark, nor the slumber and dreams of the sea birds. 



