NATURAL SELECTION 45 



busy to notice it, or too satisfied to take it 

 seriously. But now everything was magni- 

 fied. Differences became mountainous; 

 idiosyncrasies, insulting. 



The school was moving slowly and aim- 

 lessly along the fence, the stones already 

 bare and slick with the fanning of innumer- 

 able fins, when Fusser began her customary 

 interference. Food, she declared, might be 

 found if they looked more carefully; swim- 

 ming slower would be much less tiring; the 

 other side of the fence, as being toward the 

 south, doubtless was much better. It was 

 then that Swarthy broke. 



He rushed Fusser and gave her a sharp 

 stab in the side. Surprised and indignant, 

 she would have maneuvered for an argu- 

 ment, but he wanted none. He rushed her 

 again, viciously. Her method would have 

 been to enlist group aid to curb individual 

 depredations, but Swarthy was for direct 

 action. He stabbed her with his spines. 



She sped here and there like a woman 

 throwing up her hands in holy indignation 

 and demanding that the social conscience 

 awake. But, to her utter amazement, she 

 found the very ones for whom she had done 



