86 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



would approach in numbers and investigate my 

 hands and trident with much greater eagerness and, 

 I presume, with expectancy, than they ever dis- 

 played on the occasion of the first dive, before I 

 had repeatedly tempted them with freshly killed 

 crabs. I could even recognize certain individuals, 

 characterized by some peculiarity of color or 

 form. 



Before I go on to speak, even casually, of the 

 fish themselves, I must tell of my second discovery. 

 As with the crab baiting, and so much else in my 

 life, it was by sheer accident that I learned of the 

 possibility of spearing fish twenty to thirty feet un- 

 der water. The first few times I dived I carried a 

 powerful harpoon with a long metal handle, think- 

 ing I could lay it down and pick it up more readily 

 than if it had been buoyant. The big, green grouper 

 which I mentioned in my opening sentence was 

 bothering me, shoving his big j aws close to my arms 

 and legs, so I struck idly at him, missing of course, 

 and to my astonishment, he instantly attacked the 

 prongs of the trident. Again I stabbed when he 

 was broadside on and struck him so hard that he 

 tore away with difficulty, whereupon he took 

 himself off, and sulked under a great mushroom 

 coral. 



I remembered this incident and the following day 

 had a special grains made out of three large, 

 straightened fishhooks, fixed in the end of a yard- 

 long wooden handle. This I took down with me 

 and waited until my regular crab bait came sail- 

 ing down. I caught the stone and wedged it in a 



