38o I N A G U A 



tended out to the very brim, and the sand was more firm. I 

 made myself as comfortable as possible and sat patiently, squirt- 

 ing little jets of water on the glass to clear the mist that was 

 forming from my breath. At first I saw nothing but presently 

 made a discovery. 



The edge was the highroad for hundreds of fishes passing 

 up and down the bank. The first that I saw were a large school 

 of mackerel of a species that I could not determine. They were 

 ill about eighteen inches in length and were traveling about 

 (en feet above my head. The glow of the sunshine filtering 

 down through the blue caught their silvery bodies and high- 

 Hghted each one with a line of gleaming yellow. I have never 

 seen anything on dry land as brilliant except possibly the wings 

 of certain butterflies. When I first glimpsed them they were 

 swimming leisurely; but suddenly, as one fish, they all broke 

 into action. In a great yellow streaking line they darted towards 

 the surface where some slim smaller fish were idling. 



The smaller fish saw them coming, and like living arrows 

 they, too, streaked surfacewards. Looking up I could faintly 

 make out the opaque surface film and, as I watched, the smaller 

 fish burst through and disappeared. Then I knew them for 

 flying-fish. Disappointed, the mackerel turned aside and re- 

 sumed their march up the bank edge. I did not see the flying-fish 

 drop in again, as the haze and the distance obscured them from 

 view. 



Suddenly my arm began burning as though on fire. Fright- 

 ened, I whipped around, sending a white cloud tumbling over 

 the earth brim. Trailing over my arm were two or three strands 

 of gelatinous tentacles from a Portuguese man-of-war, a blue 

 and lavender jellyfish that was drifting over my head. Franti- 

 cally I ducked the remaining tentacles and managed to elude 

 them by throwing myself on the sand. The swirl of my action 



