GLORY AT ENTEDEBIR I47 



the surface clasping the victim with all the strength I could 

 muster. Cecco rowed over hurriedly, and seeing the cefalone 

 and me, all but fell on me as he took hold of the two em- 

 bedded arrows and prepared to drag the beast on board. The 

 cefalone was barely out of my grasp when it came unexpec- 

 tedly back to life, freed itself with a violent twist and slipped 

 through Cecco's hands. As I reached out to catch it, it 

 drove the end of the arrow-shaft into my right armpit 

 opening a three-inch cut. But just as it was about to get away 

 I caught it in mid-air and hurled it into the boat. 



Gigi came swimming rapidly towards us and we were soon 

 all four in the boat with the dead cefalone in the midst of us. 

 We looked at it in silence, almost with a touch of emotion. 

 It was the 2ist of February. We had succeeded after a 

 month and a half. 



We landed on a beach where we could have a good look 

 at it. The first mystery we unveiled was that of the head of 

 plexiglass. The fish was covered from its gills to its toothless 

 mouth, with a sheath of transparent, glutinous gristle, like a 

 sclerotic, a quarter of an inch thick. Even its eyes were 

 covered. Hence that strangely fixed, glassy expression. 



The fish was three feet long and weighed from twelve to 

 sixteen pounds. It was like no other fish we knew. It was 

 something between a tarpon and a mullet, with very hard 

 scales and high slender tail-fins, distantly resembling those 

 of a herring. In relation to its size it was not heavy. We 

 wondered where it got its stupendous physical force from — 

 the force that defied our lines and arrows. And what was the 

 point of that plated head ? Could it be for protection from 

 the stinging properties of the plankton that it fed on ? This 

 was my private hypothesis, however odd. The ^professor', 

 Cecco, said absolutely No. He scratched his head and 

 rubbed his chin: 'What is a cefalone?' We gave up fishing 



