A School of Juveniles 245 



Then the school having temporarily disappeared, 

 he came in, and we gloated over the catch together. 

 I of course, who had never hitherto seen a fish caught 

 larger than a stickleback in the Serpentine, was full 

 of amazement at their size, being about eighteen inches 

 long and averaging three pounds weight each. But 

 Joe told me that they were very young ones and were 

 seldom met with like this, usually keeping concealed 

 somewhere until they were much larger. And when 

 he told me how large they really grew, I confess that 

 I felt very doubtful of his veracity. 



For the rest of that day I had no relief from my 

 desire to see more of these pretty fish. I kept as careful 

 a watch for them as if my life depended upon discovering 

 them. But it was not until I accidentally glanced 

 down the rudder trunk — a curious-shaped opening 

 in the after-part of the quarter-deck which admitted 

 the rudder-head, and down which there was plenty of 

 room for a slim man to fall by the side of the rudder into 

 the sea — that I discovered the school all closely 

 packed under the ship's bottom, as if they were 

 magnetically held to her sides. Whereat my wonder 

 was again excited ; but as my chum was now asleep 

 I had to watch, and see if I could find out for myself 

 why they thus clustered about us. It could not be 

 for food, I reasoned, for the vessel had been newly 

 sheathed with yellow metal just before leaving, and 

 there were as yet no sea-growths, either animal or 

 vegetable, upon her. And as I watched and wondered 

 it was suddenly revealed to me why these fish gathered 

 so closely about us. It was for shelter, for pro- 

 tection. 



All at once there darted into the midst of their 

 close-packed masses one of their own kind, but very 

 much larger, one at least six feet in length and 



