192 DAHLAK 



Priscilla would collect the victims, assisted by Giorgio, Cecco 

 and me. My main task, however, was to lie in wait with the 

 gun, for the big fish. 



It was an extraordinary day. When we got back to camp 

 in the evening the boat was so full of fish that we had to put 

 our feet on the seats. It took us two hours to sort them out 

 and we realized that in a single drive we had obtained two 

 or three specimens of each of forty different species, some of 

 them as yet unknown. 



There were several episodes worth relating. 



First episode. Giorgio had thrown his bomb some time 

 since and the collection of the casualties on top and below 

 had been going on for more than an hour. Strangely enough, 

 only one shark had so far shown his face, a modest black-fin. 

 The wild mackerel had been eating up half of the prey. Cecco 

 had shot one and said good-bye to his arrow and three- 

 quarters of the line. He was now in the boat fixing a new 

 arrow and line. For the moment I alone was in the water 

 watching the movements of a barracuda which had been 

 timidly coming up to me behind my back. I waited for the 

 right moment and went under with my finger on the trigger. 

 The barracuda unexpectedly put on speed and slipped 

 away. In its place three black-fins arrived as if by magic. One 

 of them was longer than me. I floated quietly up, breathed in 

 and returned below to see them snapping up the few fish 

 that had not yet been collected. They darted to and fro, 

 beating their tails, all of a twitter. Perhaps they had decided 

 to press on because they saw that there was only one human 

 in the neighbourhood, or because they realized that they had 

 arrived late or perhaps they were just terribly hungry. Any- 

 way I liked the look of the big one. I tried to place myself 

 in its path. It made the customary curve away from me and 

 appeared on my right. According to my calculations it 



