Big Game at Sea 



John had selected was in the lee of the south point of 

 the key, where the gentle waves came purring up the 

 beach in little eddies. The track of the moon on the 

 water was a blaze of silver, reaching far away, in 

 which the splashing and leaping of large fish could be 

 occasionally seen. The stillness was almost absolute. 

 Now and then came the weird cry of a wandering 

 tern, or. the scrambling sound of the purple land 

 crabs as they climbed the low bushes. Finally I 

 heard a mysterious sound on the sand, and in the 

 bright moonlight made out scores of almost pure 

 white spirit crabs, perched on high legs, standing 

 around us, evidently holding a conference as to what 

 we were. At the slightest movement they would 

 dash away in a wild scurry and reach their holes ; then 

 when all was again quiet they would come pouring 

 out to resume their observations. 



I was lying in a depression in the soft sand watch- 

 ing these ghostly marauders, who seemed to be unde- 

 cided whether to attack us or not, when Long John, 

 who had been looking up and down the beach, 

 uttered a slight click and touched my arm, pointing 

 to the sea. There, right in the path of the moon, 

 half in the water, half out, its back gleaming and 

 glistening, was a huge turtle. It was looking the 

 situation over and perchance had a suspicion that 

 something was wrong. It remained in the same 

 position four or five minutes, with its head raised as 

 though listening, then seemingly satisfied, it came 



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