Early Training 1 89 



they would have devoured us with as great if not 

 greater rapidity than our present foes did ; but we 

 had one safeguard, had we but known it : our in- 

 numerable numbers. It was impossible for the most 

 energetic, the most voracious of our enemies to destroy 

 us, not merely all but more than half of us. And this 

 law, if I may so call it, of superabundant supplj'', is 

 what really prevents the utter annihilation of many 

 species in the sea. 



So it came to pass in due time that, evadhig the 

 destroyers in company with some millions of my 

 brethren, I grew and waxed strong enough to eat in my 

 turn, not only the young of other fish which swarmed 

 in our deep retreat, but any of my own family that 

 happened to be less agile or weaker than I was. For 

 in me, as in my fellows, but one principle, one law 

 held sway, and guided as yet all actions. It was to 

 live, and in order to live, to eat, never mind who or 

 what, so long as it was eatable. Our one aim, our one 

 duty, was to grow and get big ; we did not know why 

 or how, but we obeyed the overmastering law. 



In due time we began to stray farther and farther 

 from our birthplace into deeper and deeper water, 

 always under the same mysteriously compelling im- 

 pulse, until at last, having grown into a sizeable fish 

 of about three pounds in weight, I headed a goodly 

 company of my fellows in a straight course westward 

 out of the Middle sea, nor rested until we found our- 

 selves out in the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. 

 How we rejoiced in our new-found freedom from the 

 constant terror of enemies ! Here they hardly troubled 

 us at all, or if they did we felt easily able to elude 

 pursuit, being so agile and cunning from our early 

 training. Several times, however, I had narrow 

 escapes through faUing in with adult individuals of 



HK. 



