ALBACORA '183 



"Nonsense," I said. "He has two perfectly good 

 eyes." 



"Who said anything about eyes?" Walt Gorman 

 asked, as if he was confused. 



"Mario," I said. "He called him a one-eyed bird." 



Walt laughed. "Mario," he called out. 



Mario, halfway out of the cabin, turned around. 



"What kind of bird is that?" Walt said. "What's the 

 name of the bird, Mario?" 



"One-eye," Mario said. 



"There," I said. "He said it again." 



"What he said," Walt Gorman said, "is guani. You 

 know. G-u-a-n-i, the Spanish word for cormorant." 



The cormorant continued peering impudently into 

 the cabin. "Charlie," I said. "He looks like a Good 

 Time Charlie." The name was accepted unanimously. 



The way to tempt a bird, of course, is to offer food. 

 Mario brought out some bait, which I stripped into lit- 

 tle pieces, and holding a piece in my hand, I left the 

 cabin and advanced cautiously to where Charlie stood. 

 Just as cautiously, Charlie advanced toward me. Both 

 his eyes were fixed on the bait. 



"He's a panhandler," I said, and Charlie grabbed the 

 bait and swallowed it whole. 



"Say," Lou said, "I want to have a try at that." He 

 fetched more bait. Walt and Howard both joined us 

 and soon Charlie was sprinting from hand to hand, all 

 enthusiasm and appetite. No more drenching dives into 



