DISSEI, BROWN ISLAND 5I 



deceiving him. The curiosity of the barracuda knows no 

 bounds and he circles and comes back to have a look. Then 

 the fun begins. Cecco produced an eight-pound grouper, 

 then a twelve-pounder. Gigi a magnificent ten-pound red 

 bream followed by a corpulent parrot-fish. There could be 

 nothing more riotously colourful than these fish as they were 

 thrown aboard, like pieces of rainbow become fish. 



A shout ... I leapt round and saw Gigi, now further off, 

 on the very edge of the barrier where the blue sinks. He 

 appeared to be shaking off . . . shaking off, with blows, an 

 invisible enemy. I rowed like the devil, yelling to Priscilla 

 to reload a gun and dig under the heap of fish for a pair of 

 fins and a knife. Gigi was still there, hitting and smiting 

 and slapping the water like a madman. By the way he was 

 rotating and keeping his eyes glued below him, it was 

 obvious that there was some animal that was being a 

 menace. We got to him at last. 



*Shall I jump in ?' I shouted. 



*No, it's too late . . . it's gone.' 



'What was it?' 



*A black-fin.' 



'Big?' 



'Not five feet.' 



'What happened?' 



'I was worming under a coral trying to tug out an odd- 

 looking parrot-fish. Hearing something I turned, and found 

 that thing a yard away, believe it or not.' 



'And then?' 



'Nothing. I came up with the parrot-fish and it buzzed 

 under my feet trying to pinch it. I tossed and shouted under 

 water but evidently it was deaf.' 



'Did it eat the parrot-fish?' 



Gigi smiled. 



