138 ALBACORA 



not lose his footing. He must have terrified a hundred 

 birds. They dove off the rocks and into the sea by the 

 dozens. Wah regained his footing and started forward 

 again. 



Walt was creeping when he reached the ledge. I saw 

 him inch toward two large, handsome birds. He lunged 

 with his net. One bird dove into the sea, but the other 

 was trapped. As soon as he felt the net, the penguin 

 went into a frenzy, beating his wings against the strands 

 of cord and the solid rock. 



"I don't think we need a picture that badly," Lou 

 said. 



"Walt," I pleaded, "let him go. Please let him go." 



The net came up and the penguin quickly dove into 

 the water. "I'll go into the caves," Walt shouted. "I'll 

 get a young one out of one of the caves." 



"No," Lou shouted. "Don't bother. The water looks 

 too rough around the caves." 



"I'll be all right," Walt answered. "Don't worry 

 about me." 



"It isn't you," Lou called. "We need the WaWar 



Walt's laugh carried to us clearly. He scrambled 

 back to the WaWa without a slip, and along with 

 Mario he started paddling into a patch of the worst sort 

 of swirling water. No breakers crashed within the la- 

 goon that fed the caves, but the water boiled in currents 

 and crosscurrents, whirlpools and undertows strong 

 enough to carry the WaWa even out of Walt Gorman's 



