376 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



pipefish, sea-horses, filefish and Pterophryne, the 

 latter magicked from weed to fish with scarcely any 

 alteration of color, blemishes, berries and fronds. 



A host of other surface persons came to our nets, 

 but I will mention only two more. A few Portu- 

 guese men-of-war had drifted hither from far-off 

 tropical waters, still iridescent as opals, buoyant 

 as balloons, and among their terrible, fire-searing 

 tentacles, there also swam small fish — fairy No- 

 meus to whom color was as balls to a juggler — one 

 moment banded with black, the next monochrome 

 silver. 



Almost the only being who was independent of 

 weed or jelly or the society of its fellows was a 

 little triggerfish, who outcolored even Nomeus. 

 Isolated amid this vast waste of waters, this mid- 

 get would be seen progressing sturdily and un- 

 afraid. He was the despair of the artist. Swim- 

 ming quietly in mid-ocean or in an aquarium, he 

 showed the usual oceanic coloring — ultramarine 

 above, silvery white beneath. As the Arcturus bore 

 down upon one of these diminutive triggers, or the 

 face of the artist approached the glass behind which 

 he hung poised, he became purpley suspicious. An- 

 other emotion induced a pale green cast, while 

 darkness impelled him to lower the black drop, 

 until he reflected the colors of this printed page. 

 At times (but I am certain never through fear) he 

 turned a strong saffron yellow, while at the ap- 

 proach of death, as weakness seized upon fins and 

 gills, the little spectrum palette of his body was 

 slowly dimmed, and a veil of silvery grey drawn 



