372 I N A G U A 



tered with fragments of light and shadow. 



I looked up again. The whole school had altered its course. 

 This time instead of following the heaving sky, it was pouring 

 into the depths. The effect was that of a living cascade. Long 

 threads of burnished metal and spangles of quivering silver 

 glittered in a liquid torrent. For fully two minutes it lasted, 

 and then, with a final spluttering of light, the fishes faded away 

 and vanished forever. 



The calm that followed the deluge of fishes was so intense 

 that some seconds passed before I became aware of any move- 

 ment. Then in the direction of the coral trees at the base of the 

 trunks, I saw what appeared to be a long winding serpent. It 

 was defiling from a shadowy avenue of twisted trunks and was 

 slithering close to the bottom where it followed the contour 

 of the rocks and crags. Neither end was visible as it squirmed 

 and swayed into obscurity. My curiosity was aroused and al- 

 though I felt safer in my corner I got up and walked slowly 

 over. When I came close I saw it was one of the interminable 

 schools of snappers. They did not seem to mind my presence, 

 though I must have been a strange sight to them with a geyser 

 of moonlit bubbles mounting from my head. I strode through 

 the snappers but they merely separated long enough to allow 

 passage and closed ranks again. 



Where they were going in the night and for what purpose I 

 could not guess. They seemed to be in no hurry but they were 

 off on some errand which, no doubt, was important to them. 

 For a few seconds I had an irresistible urge to follow but know- 

 ing that I was limited to the length of my hose, even imagining 

 that they would permit my trailing them, I desisted and watched 

 them vanish like the surface fishes into the abyss. 



The two schools taking their separate paths to obscurity gave 

 a hint of the tremendous activity that w^as occurring along the 

 borders of the sea. In my imagination I could visualize similar 



