ing their fare depleted, turn to less contaminated 

 coasts of other countries to seek sufficient for their 

 needs. 



It was into one such of these death-dealing, 

 unsightly, drifting sinks that our now lifeless gull 

 had found its way. 



IV 



Midnight was the exact time of low tide. By 

 this hour I was finally and fully occupied with the 

 creatures which I had originally set out to watch. 

 I was alone in the dinghy. From where I sat look- 

 ing down into the clear lighted depths at the 

 spider-crabs crawling about on the bottom, the 

 sounds of frying food being prepared by my Faith- 

 ful Assistant on the beach could easily be heard — 

 or to be more exact, they could have been heard, 

 had I just then the ears to hear. The moon, now 

 at its highest point and illuminating the landscape 

 with a superb soft brilliance, was reflected in the 

 water almost directly underneath; its image, 

 broken by the undulations of the wavelets, ap- 

 peared like running quicksilver. But little did I 

 reck of such sights now: a more moving one was 

 holding me. 



[210] 



