CHAPTER 



10 



S Three days before we left Iquique, the Explorer 

 filled a role which even Lou had not foreseen for the 

 ship. 



We were eating lunch at sea during one of the last 

 bright fishing days when a cormorant dropped out of 

 the sky and landed on the forward deck. He waddled 

 up to the cabin on stubby webbed feet, and looked down 

 at us quite casually. I stared back. 



"How cute," I said. 



"No," Mario insisted. "Tired old one-eye bird." 



I took another look. The bird clearly had two eyes; 

 two beady eyes, as a matter of fact. "I don't know any- 

 thing about his age, Mario," I began, "but . . ." 



"One-eye bird," Mario repeated excitedly, starting 

 from the cabin. 



182 



