NONSUCH 



the rise, sent it out in a flurry like dense smoke. 

 Again and again they dipped and puffed, dipped 

 and puffed, until in their wake there was a score of 

 fading gouts of sand — like the vanishing sky 

 blossoms of shrapnel smoke. 



These and many others were passing visitors to 

 my island, not to be watched for, because their size 

 was unimaginable, their occupation unforeseen, 

 their very presence wholly unexpected. Others were 

 such permanent residents that I have named locali- 

 ties for them, such as Lobster Alley and Chub Can- 

 yon. Our pet lobster is of unusual size, and her an- 

 tennae are forever protruding from the window of 

 her apartment, well up on a reef -wall within a side 

 canyon. Now and then I tweak her horns as I pass 

 and she withdraws in insulted haste. 



In Chub Canyon six or eight enormous chubs are 

 always to be found. I do not think that a chub four 

 feet over all has ever been captured in these islands, 

 but here they are; records which would make an 

 angler wild with envy. 



With the water clear and free from sand and no 

 fish as far as the eye could see, I once stooped at 

 the foot of the ladder to pick up a net. As I straight- 

 ened up I got the most terrific shock I can remem- 

 ber under-seas, for at first glance I seemed to be 

 completely enclosed by some creature of enormous 

 size. Within a second my eye had resolved the mass 

 into hundreds upon hundreds of chubs, all about 

 a foot in length, which had materialized in mid- 

 water from nothing, and now swam so close that 



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