140 ALBACORA 



two baby penguins. They were very white and very fuzzy 

 and their big floppy feet were much longer than the 

 bodies. 



"Adorable," I said. "They're darling, Walt." 



"Get Mario up here," Lou said, "I want to congratu- 

 late him." 



"Mario," Walt said, "stays in the WaWa and the 

 WaWa stays leeward." 



"What's the matter?" Rivas asked. 



"Mario thought you'd want to see a penguin egg," 

 Walt said. "In the cave he picked out a good one and 

 put it in his pocket. Getting back to the boat he slipped 

 and the egg broke right in his pocket. 



"Oh, oh," I said. 



"Ever smell a penguin egg?" Walt said. "A smashed 

 penguin egg, I mean?" 



I shook my head. 



"Ask Mario to describe it sometime, but you better 

 teach him basic English first." 



Mario stayed leeward in the WaWa and Doty began 

 setting up all kinds of pictures. He took the baby birds 

 being fed, the baby birds kissing me, me kissing the 

 baby birds, the birds sitting on tackle, the birds walking 

 on the deck and resting on the bridge and in enough 

 other poses to take up the better part of an hour. 



"I guess," he said, at length, "I've got enough." 



"Well, thanks," Walt said. "What the hell are we 

 gonna do with these buzzards now?" 



