A Strange Gompanionship lOI 



by the very men who will scornfully reject absolute 

 facts concerning the pilot fish's relation to the Shark. 

 I do not know why, nor do I think any one does. For 

 there are thousands of facts in natural history as well 

 authenticated as sunrise and sunset, far stranger than 

 is this bond between Shark and pilot-fish, concerning 

 which I shall only use facts of my own observation, and 

 none whatever of hearsay. 



The strangely assorted pair proceeded in symme- 

 trical order for some hours upon a course as definite 

 as if laid down on a chart and steered by compass. 

 And while they were thus wending their way together 

 so harmoniously let us consider briefly the pilot-fish, 

 since apart from his association with the Shark he has 

 little interest for us. A beautifully shaped little fish, 

 marked with transverse bands of blue and gold — the blue 

 of that intensity seen only in fish and tinted to show 

 against the blue of the sea. A pair of golden-rimmed 

 eyes keep unwinking watch ahead, and the golden fins — 

 dorsal, pectoral, ventral, and caudal — seem as if frozen 

 stiff, so rapid are their vibrations. A fish buUt for 

 speed, but one of the feeble folk of the deep sea, for 

 he is only about eight inches long. But why, oh why 

 does a pretty creature like that attach itself to the 

 Shark ? As the Spaniards are so fond of saying, 

 Quien sabe ? Here the answer is, must be, that nobody 

 knows, nobody can know. We must take the facts as 

 we find them, and be as contented as we can. 



Suddenly, like a flash of blue light, the little fellow 

 has left his station. So swiftly has he sped that the 

 eye can hardly follow him. He reaches a huge mass 

 of seaweed, goes round it, and returning, visits first 

 one side of the Shark's face and then the other, then 

 resumes his station just over the nose. Now, during 

 the time of the pilot's absence the Shark hag never 



