Diving for Turtles 



the central field of the growing atoll, and search for 

 turtles or the large and gamy barracuda, both of 

 which we took with the grains. 



Long John was well named. Nearly seven feet in 

 height, thin as the conventional rail, angular as a 

 manzanita tree, his face fiery red, from the combined 

 results of Bacchus and the sun god, he was a land- 

 mark; and standing in the dinghy, slowly sculling, 

 his long grains-pole in hand, his small gray eyes fixed 

 ahead, he looked from a distance like the mast of the 

 boat; indeed, it was said on the reef that once when 

 out with his mate, Bob Rand, he stood up, and 

 stretching his arms wide apart as yards, boomed out 

 a big foresail which sailed the craft into port. Long 

 John's method of taking turtles, both the green and 

 loggerhead, was to peg them; the weapon a three- 

 sided peg (cut from the tip of a file and polished) 

 which fitted into the long pole, or handle, and was 

 held in place by a long cord. 



At this season of the year the turtles were found 

 feeding on the lagoon bottom, and often asleep, when 

 it was comparatively easy to approach them; for 

 when alarmed they invariably rose to the surface to 

 breathe before making off. At that time the peg 

 of my companion would reach them, the long pole 

 trembling through the air like a living thing. In 

 the early days of these trips, during my novitiate on 

 the reef, my station was in the bow of the dinghy, 

 where I could readily see the black forms of the 



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