ALMOST ISLAND 



have impaled my game. I have now, however, rele- 

 gated Neptune's weapon, together with air rifles, 

 to the island armory of relics. The most efficient arm 

 is a wire arrow projected through a short bit of pipe 

 by means of a large rubber band — a cross between 

 a sling-shot and a bow and arrow. 



My last foray will serve as a type of submarine 

 collecting. I dropped to the bottom with my arrow- 

 sling in my hand and leaning down picked up the 

 trident. There was only a gentle surge, what we 

 might call a water-breeze, and I leaned against it 

 and pushed south to my favorite angle. With one 

 hand I lifted myself three feet, found a hollow for 

 my foot and looked around. A short distance ahead 

 was a huge spined urchin, hundreds of its twelve- 

 inch black needles forming an impenetrable 

 chevaux-de-frise. With the trident I jabbed lustily 

 into this mass, threw the instrument behind me on 

 the sand and stepped down again. 



Now I performed an acrobatic feat which would 

 win fame and fortune in vaudeville. I waited until 

 the surge was half through the backward push and 

 leaped upward with all my might. Slowly I rose and 

 rose off the sand, higher and higher, being carried 

 all the time slightly back and away from the reef. 

 At my greatest elevation, the surge shifted, hung 

 on dead center a moment, and then carried me for- 

 ward and over the edge of the wall of coral and sea- 

 plumes. My gentle descent had already begun so 

 that at the end of the trajectory I found myself 

 close to the place from which I had chosen to op- 



39 



