TALES OF FISHES 



house-keepers had gone insane. The present keeper 

 received me with the welcome always accorded a 

 visitor to out-of-the-world places. He corroborated 

 all that my Indian sailors had claimed for the 

 rabihorcado, and added the interesting information 

 that lighthouse-keepers desired the extinction of the 

 birds because the guano, deposited by them on the 

 roofs of the keepers' houses, poisoned the rain water 

 — ^all they had to drink. 



I climbed the narrow, spiral stair to the lighthouse 

 tower, and there, apparently lifted into the cloud- 

 navigated sky, I awakened to the real wonder of 

 coral reefs. Ridges of white and brown showed 

 their teeth against the crawling, tireless, insatiate 

 sea. Islets of dead coral gleamed like bleached bone, 

 and beds of live coral, amber as wine, lay wreathed 

 in restless surf. From near to far extended the 

 rollers, the curving channels, and the shoals, all 

 colorful, aU quivering with the light of jewels. 

 Golden sand sloped into the gray-green of shallow 

 water, and this shaded again into darker green, 

 which in turn merged into purple, reaching away to 

 the far barrier reef, a white wall against the blue, 

 heaving ocean. 



The crew had rowed us ashore with my boatmen 

 Manuel and Augustine. And then the red-shirted 

 captain stated he would like to go back to Progreso 

 and return for us at our convenience. Hesitating 

 over this, I finally gave permission, on the promise 

 that he would bring back the Xpit in one week. 



So they sailed away, and left us soon to find out 

 that we were marooned on a desert island. When I 

 saw how C. took it I was glad of our enforced stay. 



12 



