ALBACORA 137 



Mario wanted to come along, and he and Walt grabbed 

 nets and started out toward the coast. At first Walt used 

 the outboard, running it slowly as he edged the skiff 

 among rocks that were half submerged. There was a 

 break in the outer rock wall, we all saw, and a lagoon 

 that lay behind it extended all the way to the irregular 

 coastline and flowed deep into the caves which pitted 

 that formidable shore. Walt eased the WaWa toward 

 the opening, watching the rocks and trying to time the 

 progress of the boat so that it missed the roughest 

 breakers. As soon as Walt saw a stretch of water without 

 the makings of an angry wave, he gunned the motor 

 just enough to carry the WaWa into the lagoon. Then 

 he turned off the motor and he and Mario grabbed pad- 

 dles. They followed along the inside of the rock wall, 

 staying in our view, until they reached the base of a 

 huge boulder which extended onto a ledge. Mario 

 found a spot that he could grab and Walt scrambled 

 out of the boat, up the steep side of the rock. He was 

 surprisingly agile for a big man. But for all his agility, 

 he made a comic silhouette against the more distant 

 whitened rocks, threading his way along like a tight- 

 rope walker. 



"Pretty," Lou roared. "Very pretty. Captain." 



Walt was not attempting to reach the top of the rock. 



He was only advancing toward the ledge where half the 



penguins of South America were holding a meeting. 



When he was almost on the ledge, Walt slipped but did 



