gb -443-CKR 
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Next to fiiifl a hermit. We circled, as far as our hoses would pemit, 
taking a look at ©very old conch shell half hidden in the grass. On one 
of these i®.ssee I noticed Tom engrossed in studying something on the bottom, 
and wont over to see what it was. A three-foot snake eel was on a hunting 
expedition, gliding quietly tlirough the grass, poking its head under any- 
fallen object, trying to sniff out something edible. Sometlrcs it would 
Ixmse into the grass roots, head half out of si#tt. It was a beautiful 
speciTCn with a ground color of dark tan covered with deep brown half-inch 
polka dots, each with a bright gold center. Its continuous dorsal fin was 
edged In light blue. 
I rushed to the camerae and brought them, to arecord this hunting expe- 
dition. The eel was completely oblivious to us, and went quietly about 
his business as though he were completely alone. But the trouble with 
him was that he had a single track mind. He Imd laid out a route, 
apparently, that went straight north, and north he planned to We have 
slightly less than a hundred feet of hose, and It would take no tiro at 
all to get to the erd of it. I would set a csij^ra down in the eel's path. 
He would buHl> into it, slide along it until he came to the edge of it, and 
turn north again. I tried sliding it along with him as he went. This 
only caused him to swim faster to get around It. If I was too obvious 
about it he beoas® frightened. 
After much laboring I had changed his direction possibly five degrees, 
o\xr hoses were stretched to the limit, with Tom braced to hold the boat 
against the wind. And then the engine died. The compressor always stops 
at a time like this. Tom went Ixmibering off, following his hose to the 
invisible boat, and I turned on the reserve -tank, oi«ning the valve for a 
