64 Dwellers of the Sea and Shore 



same place ready to unravel whatever threads may 

 present themselves. And I am compelled to add that 

 repeated observations day after day bring me nothing 

 new; each time I see the usual performance of the 

 females but nothing to denote that the occasion is sig- 

 nificant CO the males. Yet my perseverance is not en- 

 tirely without reward. I am soon to have more than 

 my pains for my laborious steadfastness. But let me 

 anticipate myself. Complete and successful observa- 

 tion of this affair is yet to be mine. However, in the 

 following occurrence there is more than enough to con- 

 vince me that if my suspicions are not altogether well- 

 founded, I hav^e come close to something so significant 

 that it dwarfs the interest of the present inquiry. 



Late one day when getting ready to abandon my 

 post, I was arrested for a moment by something moving 

 deep down in the bottom of the hull. It did not hold 

 me for long, as it immediately lost itself in the gloom, 

 and in the imperfect light I took it for some drifting 

 clump of seaweed carried along by the incoming tide. 

 Gathering together my trappings I climbed down to my 

 little skiff which w^as moored to one of the stanchions 

 in the capacious hull. No sooner had I seated myself 

 than I perceived my mistake. The water was low, and 

 my position in the boat afforded a nearer view^ of what 

 was going on below. In the tenebrous depths moving 

 in the general direction of the current could be dis- 

 cerned light, irregular masses outlined against the 

 darker bottom like nimbus clouds in the moonlight. 

 One of these patches carried upward well within visible 

 range revealed its nature. It was a cluster of star- 

 fishes, each hanging on to the other. Then it was I 



