A TORPEDO IN FEATHERS 157 



into the full sun. In the shock of his sur- 

 prise he dropped the fish, and at the same 

 time gulped his lungs full of fresh air. For 

 perhaps half a minute, he thrust and flapped 

 and tore furiously, expecting to break through 

 the elusive obstacle, which yielded so freely 

 that he could get no hold upon it, yet always 

 thrust him back with a suave but inexorable 

 persistence. At length, realizing himself 

 foiled in this direction, he sank downward like 

 a stone, thinking to back out of the struggle 

 and rise somewhere else. But, to his horror, 

 the bight of the net came down with him, 

 refusing to be left. In his struggles he had 

 completely enmeshed himself. 



And now, probably for the very first time 

 in a not uneventful life, the great loon lost 

 his head. He began to fight blindly, over- 

 whelmed by panic terror. Plunging, kick- 

 ing, beating with half-fettered wings, striking 

 with his beak in a semi-paralysed fashion 

 because he had not room to stretch his neck 

 to its full length, he was soon utterly ex- 

 exhausted. Moreover, he was more than half 

 drowned. At last, a dimness coming over 

 the golden amber light, he gave up in despair. 

 With a feeble despairing stroke of his webbed 

 feet, he strove to get back to the surface. 

 Happily for him, the net in this direction was 



