174 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



broke the world's record in the upper air by feet. 

 The strangest thing about it was that whenever I 

 did such a thing as this, I accomplished it slowly. 

 I took off with deliberation in spite of my strong- 

 est effort, I went through the water with con- 

 scious lapse of time, and I landed as in a slow 

 motion picture. 



The instant I leaped I realized my mistake and 

 watched the wonderful form as it swung up from 

 me. It turned just below the surface and again 

 shot down. I think a considerable percentage of 

 these manoeuvers was pure side, executed for the 

 benefit of a smaller, probably a lady sea-lion, who 

 hung between earth and air a short distance away, 

 and watched. The big male — he was certainly over 

 seven feet long — began his second rush at an acute 

 angle, heading for the bottom some distance away. 

 Turning like a meteor the moment his head touched 

 the waving seaweed, he again cleared me by inches. 

 I could not help but flinch, not from a fear of be- 

 ing bitten but from a disbelief that such a great 

 body could possibly stop its impetus and not smash 

 into me. As he passed, I stretched out a hand and 

 felt the smooth, hard body brush against my 

 fingers. This was apparently a surprise to the ani- 

 mal, who, in alarm, inserted an extra curve into his 

 simple parabola, and in the effort gasped out a 

 mouthful of bubbles. This time he shot to the sur- 

 face and half out, followed by his admirer, while 

 the string of bubbles ascended slowly — coalescing 

 as it went into larger and fewer spheres — like the 

 puff of smoke from an airplane engine, or the 



