THE SCHOOLS OF LITTLE ARROWS 



with ideas, activities, hopes and fears of its own, 

 but somehow subservient to the Spirit of the School. 



On another day I shpped over the gunwale of 

 my boat and down to a shallow sandy bottom three 

 fathoms below the surface, close to an outlying 

 islet near Nonsuch. There had been no recent storms 

 nor heavy swells and the water was clear. Yet when 

 I looked toward the abrupt rise of seaweed-covered 

 rocks which marked the rim of the island, all was 

 foggy and dim. I walked closer and saw that be- 

 tween me and the under shore there hung a dense 

 veil of tens or hundreds of thousands of Silversides, 

 all facing one way, all balanced in mid-water, each 

 fish hardly a fin's reach apart from his fellows. 

 As I approached, there appeared a tiny rent in 

 the great blue-grey curtain — a frayed place in 

 front of my helmet. There was no panic, no sus- 

 tained fright as I came near, just a slow, hardly 

 perceptible parting. And the strange thing was 

 that this seemed to cause no crowding; it was as if 

 the entire living portiere swung slightly to one side. 

 I went closer and an oval window opened silently 

 — through which I could clearly see the seaweed 

 and the little yellow wrasse beyond. I stepped 

 back and the grey blinds were drawn together again, 

 and I was again shut off by. the sohd wall of fish. 



I now slipped off one of my four weights and 

 cached it where I could not help but find it again. 

 Then I took several steps ahead, and leaped with 

 all my might. Of course the result was all slow 

 motion, as it has to be under water. I left the sand 



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