Trailing the Sea-Bat 



part of which ran a deep blue channel. Acres were 

 covered with branch coral, while the rest of the bot- 

 tom was either white sand or had a scant growth of 

 algae the home of crawfish, crabs and various shell 

 fish upon which I believe the big rays fed. 



The men rowed slowly down the reef by an old 

 ship blown in by a hurricane years before, now lying 

 ghostly and still, with a corporal's guard of pelicans, 

 frigate birds and gulls; down by Bird Key, whose 

 population of terns rose high in the air with bewilder- 

 ing cries. I had begun to think that the morning was 

 a poor time for vampire fishing, when Chief stopped 

 rowing and pointed to the east. I turned in time to 

 see a black triangular object waved above the surface ; 

 it might have been the dorsal fin of a shark, yet no 

 shark had so black a topgallant sail, or, indeed, so 

 large a one. Paublo was gazing at it with protruding 

 eyes and parted lips ; it was a rude awakening for him, 

 as I believe he had considered it a forlorn hope, and 

 secretly prayed that we might not see the dreaded 

 fish. I turned the boat in the direction of the fin and 

 bade the men give way. The trim cutter shot 

 through the still water like a gull. Where I had 

 sighted the fish the lagoon began to dip into the deep 

 channel of the Gulf Stream as it flows between Cuba 

 and the keys, and until nearly one hundred feet is 

 reached every object on the bottom can be seen, so 

 clear is the water. 



We had almost reached the spot when not one, but 



7 



