208 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



pulls closely alongside, and an oarsman catches a flipper, another 

 oarsman catches another flipper, and the prize is drawn on board 

 alive, and only slightly injured, and can be transported alive to 

 market. 



With us the sea was large and the tortoises small, and our 

 eyes were tired with watching. One sleeping turtle was espied, 

 and we rowed towards him with all the skill we could use. "We 

 fairly crept towards him, and held our breath to lighten the boat. 

 A little-looking negro man stood on the forward grating. He was 

 dressed in a pair of pantaloons and a straw hat of other days. His 

 mahogany skin shone with sweat in the hot sunshine. Another 

 soft stroke of the oars and the boat would have been within 

 striking distance, when an oarsman, in his anxiety to witness 

 the blow, turned his body, making a slight grating noise. The 

 tortoise raised his head. A wave of his flipper, and he disap- 

 peared in the blue depths of the sea as quickly as a seal could 

 have done it. 



" Dah ! you — wah fur you dun kum' to sea fur," ejaculated the 

 lancer, " you tink turtle got no more sense 'en you be ! Eh ? " 



It was not an hour before we espied another turtle, and this 

 time the lancer drove his spear into his back plumb up to the ring, 

 and diving, the tortoise carried down shaft and all. This was un- 

 fortunate, as he turned after diving and wound the cord around 

 the shaft. A moment more he rose near the boat, and seeing 

 the cord snapped at it, cutting it off as a pair of shears would 

 have done. It was a large loggerhead-turtle, and their bite is 

 sharp and vicious, sufficiently so to take off a man's fingers. As 

 he swirled down under the boat the Doctor cried, "Good-bye, 

 my friend, I 'd much rather you 'd go down there than into this 

 boat." 



We retrieved our shaft, and fitting in another lance-head were 

 prepared for further warfare. But the wind had freshened, the sea 

 was ruffled, and we turned homeward setting a little sail that 

 pushed us along merrily, while now and then a flying fish rose out 

 of the water, and like a little white bird flitted over the sea for a 

 hundred yards, and then sank back again into the waves. 



