TURTLES AND PORPOISES 55 



Johnny harpooned two more before the school 

 took fright and disappeared. The porpoises 

 were cleaned and some of their meat, nicely 

 roasted, was sent to the forecastle. It made fine 

 eating, tasting something like beef. 



The steward was an inveterate fisherman and 

 constantly kept a baited hook trailing in the brig's 

 wake, the line tied to the taff-rail. He caught 

 a great many bonitos and one day landed a dol- 

 phin. We had seen many of these beautiful fish 

 swimming about the ship — ^long, graceful and 

 looking like an animate streak of blue sky. The 

 steward's dolphin was about five feet long. I 

 had often seen in print the statement that dol- 

 phins turned all colors of the rainbow in dying 

 and I had as often seen the assertion branded 

 as a mere figment of poetic imagination. Our 

 dolphin proved the truth of the poetic tradition. 

 As life departed, it changed from blue to green, 

 bronze, salmon, gold, and gray, making death as 

 beautiful as a gorgeous kaleidoscope. 



We saw flying fish every day — great " coveys " 

 of them, one may say. They frequently flew 

 several hundred yards, fluttering their webbed 



