

CHAPTER IX. 



TOM AND THE MAN-OF-WAR. 



A pirate's island— The parrot-fish— The queen conch— Mimics — The 

 file-fish— Floating nests— Tom takes a lesson with the cast-net 

 —Catching a flamingo— The race— Tom succumbs to the Por. 

 tuguese man-of-war — Long John blows up the man-of-war- 

 Wonders of phosphorescence. 



FEW mornings after this 

 excursion the expedition, 

 under Long John's guid- 

 ance, was making a run across 

 to East Key, some eight miles 

 from the fort. The sky was 

 richly tinted with crimson from 

 the rising sun, that seemed re- 

 flected everywhere. Shoals of 

 fishes sprang from the water. 

 Dark-hued rays darted aside in 

 graceful curves, the musical cry 

 of the laughing-gull sounded above, and every liv- 

 ing thing seemed enjoying the beautiful morning. 



(164) 



