354 I N A G U A 



must have numbered several thousand. These came so quickly, 

 so compactly, and flared into brilliance so suddenly that I in- 

 stinctively ducked when they hit the aura of the light. For 

 yards around the sea was packed with their close-set bodies. 

 Most beautifully, they were swimming as one fish, veering and 

 turning together, a great pink and lavender wheel that circled 

 round and round. 



Unfortunately their circling did not last for long, for like 

 javelins out of the night a group of small houndfish burst 

 through the school, snapping and gulping their prey as fast as 

 they could swallow. The anchovies scattered in all directions 

 and for several minutes the water was streaked with lines of 

 flashing color which marked the trail of the fleeinor fishes. 

 While the houndfish worked their carnage, they were followed 

 by a half dozen flying-fish which surprisingly appeared out of 

 nowhere and then, realizing their mistake, suddenly turned 

 and shot like arrows toward the surface. As strong an attrac- 

 tion as the light was, it was not enough to keep them in place; 

 their fear of the houndfish was something to behold. They were 

 crazed with terror, and in a vibrating, scintillating blur they 

 passed out of my sphere. 



The pure ferocity of the houndfish exceeded any similar 

 savagery I have ever seen. Their appetites were insatiable. Back 

 and forth they lunged, striking, slaying, maiming, sometimes 

 not pausing to swallow their prey before dashing on to an- 

 other. They gorged themselves until their gullets were dis- 

 tended, then continued to kill and injure. More than any other 

 sight, this massacre of the anchovies brought home the cruelty, 

 the age old barbarity of the ocean. 



Presently, back in the dim haze beyond the flashhght, I be- 

 gan to be conscious of moving forms, some which reflected the 

 light and others which appeared as dark, heavy shadows. These 

 flitted from place to place, appearing and disappearing, as 



