ALONG THE FLORIDA REEF. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE LAND OF THE DANCING CRANE. 



Leaving Key West — The expedition — Catching a kingfish— The 

 Marquesas — Graining a Tartar — In the wake of a big ray — The 

 spoonbill — A small Sargasso sea — The nest of a fish — The float- 

 ing coral — Animal flowers — The dancing cranes — A sea of fire 

 — The games of animals. 



tlie 



LL aboard for the Tubuses ! " 

 shouted a jolly-faced col- 

 ored man. 

 " All aboard ! " echoed three 

 youthful voices. 



The hawsers were cast off, 

 the jib run merrily up by willing 

 hands, and the trim schooner 

 Tortugas bore away down Key 

 West Harbor, headed for Gar- 

 den Key, the land's end of the 

 ;reat Florida reef — the key of 

 Gulf of Mexico. 

 The Tortugas was a Government schooner 



