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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:54 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:54 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11055-0.txt b/11055-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9999aa0 --- /dev/null +++ b/11055-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2060 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11055 *** + +LORD DOLPHIN + +[Illustration: "A GREAT VESSEL WAS STRAINING AND TUGGING. AND I COULD +SEE LIGHTS"] + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN + +BY + +HARRIET A. CHEEVER + + + +AUTHOR OF "THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TRILL," "MADAME ANGORA," +"MOTHER BUNNY," ETC. + +Illustrated by + +DIANTHA W. HORNE + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN + + + +1903 + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF + +II. UNDER THE WAVES + +III. A CORAL GROVE + +IV. THE MERMAID'S CAVE + +V. MY GARDENS + +VI. MY TREASURE GROUNDS + +VII. WHAT I SAW ONE DAY + +VIII. MY STRANGE ADVENTURE + +IX. LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND + +X. HURRAH! + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"A GREAT VESSEL WAS STRAINING AND TUGGING, AND I COULD SEE LIGHTS" + +"MY TURN TO SHOW A WIDE MOUTH NOW" + +"WHITE FACES SEEMED TO RISE AND RIDE ATOP OF THE FOAMING BILLOWS" + +"OFF TORE THE FISHES, MAD WITH TERROR" + +"ONE CUTE LITTLE NYMPH OF A GIRL WAS CRAZY TO GET NEAR ME" + +"I WAS GIVEN MY FIRST RIDE ON LAND" + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN: HIS STORY + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF + +Now who ever heard of a fish's sitting up and telling his own story! + +Oh, you needn't laugh, you young Folks, perhaps you will find that I can +make out very well, considering. + +Of course I have been among "Folks," else I could never use your +language or know anything about you and your ways. + +A message is not received direct from the depths of the sea very often, +and especially from one of the natural natives. And then, there are very +few fishes that ever have an experience like mine, and travel from one +continent to another, going both by sea and by land. + +You surely will open your eyes pretty widely at that, and wonder how a +fish could go anywhere by land. Have patience and you shall hear all +about it by and by. + +I was born deep down in the Mediterranean Sea. That long name is no +stranger. You have seen it many a time in your geographies. But could +you tell the meaning of it, I wonder? _I_ can! It means "Midland Sea," +and is so named from being so near the middle of the earth. + +If the Mediterranean Sea should be pulled up and away, together with the +space it occupies, my! what a hole there would be in the big round +earth! + +Nowadays, even the little Folks hear a great deal about Europe. Some of +the family have very likely been there. Perhaps even small John or +Elizabeth have themselves crossed the great ocean, sailing on a fine +steamer to the coast of England or Ireland. + +Oho! if you had fins and could spread them like sails, and cut through +the water like a flash, you would have a very different idea of the word +"distance" from what you have now. + +I know "Folks" do not think it very nice to talk much about one's self, +but if there is no one else to introduce you, and it is necessary that +those with whom you are talking should know the truth about you, it can +be plainly seen that the only thing to do is to tell the personal story +as modestly and as truthfully as possible. + +When first I saw the light, deep down in the sea, I was quite a little +fellow, and had a mother that took splendid care of me. She never had +but one child at a time, and that one she watched over and tended with +much affection until it was fully able to take care of itself. + +My name is Dolphin, and the Dolphin family is a large one. One branch is +of a very peculiar shape, and has a long and pointed nose or beak from +which it is called the "Sea Goose," or the "Goose of the Sea." I belong +to that branch, but as to being a goose, allow me to say I never was one +and never shall be, not really and truly. + +My head is round, and so large that it forms almost a third of my whole +body. Many Folks travelling by water have seen Dolphins, as once in +awhile we are obliged to toss our heads up out of the water in order to +breathe, as we have lungs. Yet it is not necessary for us to breathe as +Folks do, and we can blow out water in an upward stream from little +holes that are over our eyes. + +My colors are fine, dark, almost black on my back, gray at the sides, +white and shiny as satin underneath. + +There are strange things about a Dolphin. One is that when one is about +to die, the colors are very beautiful. In growing faint-tinted where +once dark, new and brilliant shades flash forth that change and glow in +showy tints. In our beak are thirty or forty sharp teeth on each side of +the jaw. Our voices are peculiar. We are said to make a kind of moan, +which you know is not a very cheerful sound. This is strange, as we are +really very lively creatures, and bright and happy in disposition, not +at all moany or sad. + +Then we have a kind of small tank or reservoir inside the chest and near +the spine which is filled with pure blood. This, you must know, is +separate from the veins, and if we stay very long under water we can +draw from this reserve supply, causing it to circulate through the body. + +There is a great deal of wisdom in all this that a poor fish cannot +understand, but Folks must know how these strange things come about, and +who makes and guides all creatures everywhere. But a Dolphin cannot take +it in at all. + +We are a merry, friendly tribe. There probably are no fish that swim the +sea that are fonder of Folks than we Dolphins. And we cannot help +feeling quite proud because of what Folks have appeared to think of us. +And I must explain why I do so grand a thing as to call myself "Lord +Dolphin." + +To begin with: In long years past, in "ancient times," as they are +called, Folks had an idea that we were able to do them good in some +ways, and so were of special value to them. And certain old coins or +pieces of money had the figure of a Dolphin stamped on them. It also was +on medals, which, you know, are of gold, silver, and copper, and are +given to Folks as a reward for having done a good or a brave deed. + +The figure of a Dolphin was also sometimes embroidered on ribbon to be +used as a badge, showing that the wearer belonged to a particular +society or order using the Dolphin as an emblem. Or it might be, again, +that the figure showed one to be a member of an ancient or noble family. + +Then there are strange and attractive stories of "myths," imaginary +forms or persons, like fairies, gods, and goddesses. When you are older +you will study about these ancient, make-believe beings, and the study +will be called myth-ology, telling curious, interesting stories about +the myths. + +Apollo, one of the so-called deities, was a myth, and said to be the god +of music, medicine, and the fine arts, a great friend of mankind; and a +great favorite I was said to be of Apollo's. + +Orion, another myth, and a most exquisite player of the lute, so +charmed the Dolphins with his playing, that once being in great trouble +and throwing himself into the sea, a Dolphin bore him on his back to the +shore. + +Some Folks have called us whales. But we are not whales at all, and are +of an entirely different family. Yet I am a big fellow all of eight feet +long, while some of us are still much longer than that. + +But the chief cause of pride with the Dolphins is the notice that has +been taken of us, and the honor shown us by the royal family of France. +Why, we formed at one time the chief figure on the coat of arms of the +princes of France. + +A coat of arms, perhaps you know, is a family crest or medal, having on +it a figure or device which a high-born family adopts as its particular +sign or emblem of nobility. + +Then the French people once named a province of France for us, calling +it Dauphené, and pronounced Dor-fa-na. + +But greatest of all the honors shown us, is the fact that the little +men-babies born of the French kings, and heirs to the throne of France, +were called "the Dauphin," taken from our name. + +Are we not distinguished? And do you wonder that we have a somewhat +exalted idea of ourselves after such honors as these have been heaped +upon us? And do you think, in view of these facts, that I am taking on +too grand a title in announcing myself as "Lord Dolphin"? + +Dear me, I do hope not! It would be such a pity to make a mistake right +at the outset in telling a story. For truth to tell, I am not a bit +proud, but just a good-natured chap that has decided to spin a sea-yarn +for the amusement, and I hope the instruction, it may be, of young +Folks, being perfectly willing the older Folks should hear it, too, if +they like. And I don't believe the smaller Folks will object to the +title, even if they don't have "lords" in this country. It must be they +are all lords here, all the nice men-Folks. + +Do you wonder what I live on? Fishes, of course, for we do not have a +very great chance at getting other kinds of food under water. I like +herrings best of all, and feed on them oftener than on any other kind of +fish. + +There is just one fellow that I cannot endure. That is the flying-fish. +I fight, make war on him, and drive him away every time he comes around. +Oh, but he is the trying creature! Forever flying in your face, getting +in your way, prying into your affairs, a kind of gossip-fish, that I +despise. Why I feel so great a dislike for him I cannot say, it must be +there is something in my nature that sets me against him, but a +flying-fish and a Dolphin cannot live along the same wave. + +There is another page in my history that must be mentioned. + +Several hundred years ago our flesh used to be eaten, and what is more, +it was thought to be fine, so that only those who had a great deal of +money could afford to have it on their tables. But nowadays we are never +used for food, but are thought to be coarse, and not nearly as nice as +most other kinds of fish. + +All right! We are very glad not to be in danger of being devoured. We go +sailing along under the bright surface of the sea, in groups of just +ourselves, and such leaps as we can take! By and by, you will hear of +leaps I have taken which have been the means of my learning a great +deal. + +Away we scud, passing ships that think they are going pretty fast, but, +O Neptune! our fins and tails take us along at a spanking rate, which +makes the ships seem slow. + +In one thing we are much like Folks. Don't laugh, please, but we are +very, very fond of music. Sometimes we catch the sound of voices singing +on a vessel, and up we go, leaping fairly into the air to get as near +the sound as possible. + +And should there be a violin, a guitar, flute, or a cornet--oh, yes, I +know them all!--on a passing vessel, we float alongside just far enough +under water to keep our bodies out of sight, while we take in the +strains in our own peculiar way. For although our ears might be hard to +find, we yet absorb or draw in sound very readily. + +And now that you know quite a little about the Dolphin family, I will +tell you some things that may interest you about my watery home. For +home, you know, is wherever one lives, whether it be in the air, on the +earth, in the earth, or in the waters under the earth. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +UNDER THE WAVES + +Pretty soon I must describe my playground, but first you must learn a +few simple things about the place I love best of all places in the +world, my home in the deep, deep sea. + +Do you suppose that when the sky is dark and threatening up where you +live, and when the wind is blowing like a hurricane, and the great waves +lash about, acting as if mad, that there is great disturbance far below? + +Do you suppose that when shipmasters are shouting out orders to the +crew, and trying to keep their vessels from turning topsy-turvy or going +down out of sight, that the fishes are scampering about wild, driven +here and there by the fierce winds, and scared half to death by the fury +of the storm? + +Do you suppose there is a terrible roar of wind and wave that bangs us +against each other at such times, and makes of the under-sea a raging +bedlam? + +Oh, by no means! There is nothing of the kind down in what Folks call +"the lower ocean." It is calm and quiet as the surface of a pond on a +pleasant summer day. + +And yet, if you wonder how I first learned about the lashing and the +thrashing of the waves above our heads when there is a storm, let me +tell about the time when I was a naughty, wilful fish, bound to have my +own way and do just as I pleased. It was when I was quite young, yet +pretty well grown. And this makes me wonder if growing little men-Folks +and women-Folks ever are determined to have their own way, no matter +what the mother may say. + +I have an idea it is what is called the "smart age," when the young, +whether fish, flesh, or fowl, start up all at once, and think they know +more than--"than all the ancients." I heard that expression used once, +and it seemed somehow to fit in here. + +Well, I was a young, big fellow, when one day I felt the will strong +within me to take leaps toward the upper sea. Now, I have already said +that my mother took the best and most watchful care of me when I was a +chicken-fish. So when she saw how restless and venturesome I appeared +that day, she tried her best, poor dear, to turn me from my purpose. + +For she was older and wise, and could tell by certain signs when the +upper currents were seething and boiling. So when I darted upwards with +a strong swirl that cut the waters apart for my passage, she thrust +herself farther ahead, trying to drive me back, and said plainly by her +actions: + +"Don't go aloft, my son, you will rush into danger; heed the warnings of +your mother and stay where the waters are untroubled and safe." + +No, I was getting to be a smart man-fish, and must be allowed to go +where I would. + +Very well, I went. Upward and upward I dove, until, oh, distress! I was +caught by the turmoil and confusion of a great storm. I had gone too far +because of knowing far less than I thought I did. + +Do you ask why I did not immediately dive downwards again? Alas, I +couldn't! I had raised myself into the storm circle, and big creature +that I was, I had need to learn that there were mighty forces of the sea +that made all my strength as a mere wisp of straw when placed against +them. + +Do not Folks, I wonder, sometimes find it much easier to get into a hard +place than to get out of it? That was what I found then, being driven +about first this way, then that. I was slammed against a great, roaring +billow that sent me off presently in another direction, merely to be met +by another wave that dashed me against a third one. + +My instincts, that serve me for mind and brains, taught me that if I +wanted to get down to quiet, restful depths, I must dive head foremost +directly toward the bottom of the sea. + +Oh, what folly to try! No sooner would I get my great head and long nose +pointed for a swift downward plunge, than a thundering billow would +actually toss me into the air, just as I have seen a spurt of spray toss +a cockle-shell. + +Oh, but I saw strange sights and heard strange sounds that night! Once +when two waves came together I was not only tossed high in air, but for +several moments I actually rode atop of the rolling foam. + +It was then that I had my first view of "Folks." What wonderful beings! +My first thought was, could it be some new, amazing kind of fish that +could stand upright? You see, I had up to that time only known creatures +that lay flat, that flapped fins in order to get along, or in order to +try what is called by the long word, lo-co-mo-tion. + +But here were fine, tall objects that were in every way so different! I +indeed knew at once that they were far above and superior to the little +creatures that flew, to anything that crawled, and to any kind of fish +that swam the seas. + +A great vessel was straining and tugging, and I could see lights here +and there that showed the water black as night. Sailors' voices rose +high above the surging of water and the tempest's loud cry. There were +queer little holes in the sides of the vessel that I know now are called +"port-holes," and big guns were pointed out through them. + +A sailor with a rope about his waist tried to walk across the deck, but +was thrown along the wet and slippery boards like a ball tossed from the +hands of a child. In a queer set of outside garments that I have learned +are called "oil-skins," the crew, officers, and captain went to and fro, +trying their best to keep things straight. + +In some way I knew that the brave captain was not afraid. A little pale +he was, surely, but his voice was firm as he called through a strange +fixture called the ship's trumpet. And his hands did not shake as he +tried to peer through a great glass across the rolling sea. + +The sailor with the rope about him was again and again tossed and +tumbled about as he tried to make the passage across the deck, but as +often as he tried his mates would have to pull on the rope and right +him. And I still think, as I did that night, that a ship's crew, +sailors, officers, and captain, are brave, brave folk,--the bravest +Folks I know. + +As the storm went crashing on, I kept thrusting myself downward, in +hopes to plunge lower than the storm circle. No use. I was upborne every +time, and after many attempts knew it would be best to simply float as I +must. + +I had drifted far from the sailing-vessel, when, as I floated high on +the crest of a wave, I looked upon a pleasure-craft of some kind, riding +high upon the breakers. Men who were not regular sailors looked with +startled eyes on the terrible sea. They were calm and quiet, but from +the way they questioned the staunch skipper, and watched the men forming +the crew, I knew they carried anxious hearts, and longed to see the +waters grow calmer. + +A hard fling sent me afloat again, and I had a peep inside the cabin, +where ladies with white faces and clasped hands were whispering of the +storm, and listening with fear in their eyes to the wild clamor of the +winds. + +Then there was a peep beyond that showed me something that to this day +I cannot understand, but I tell it because my instincts assure me that +boy-Folks and girl-Folks in good homes with good parents will know just +what it meant. And although I am only Lord Dolphin, a great fish of the +sea, there was something about it that has comforted me, and I think +always will comfort me as long as I live. + +I saw a little girl, oh, a fair little creature, with fluffy, golden +hair shading her babyish face, who was on her knees beside a white and +gilded berth. + +A berth, you know, is a small bed built right against the wall in any +kind of a vessel, be it sailer, steamship, or yacht. I think this was +some rich man's yacht. + +The fair little lady, then, was on her knees beside her gilded berth, +her elbows resting on the pretty white bed, eyes closed, tiny white +hands clasped, and lips moving. She surely was talking to some One, but +Who I cannot even guess. + +But this much was certain: that child was not afraid. Not in the least! +She must have wakened from sleep, else she would not have been alone. +And hearing the wild storm, she had slipped from her little bed, put +herself on her knees, and raised her dear, fearless little hands and +heart--where? + +Oh, surely that child had a Friend somewhere whom she trusted. How +beautiful! + +They say that fishes and some other creatures are cold of blood and have +but little feeling. But I have gone far enough to think out one thing, +and it all comes of that child on her knees: if a dear mite of a woman +like that had a great, powerful Friend she could talk to in the dark, +and feel safe with in such a tempest, just as true as I am a living +Dolphin, I believe it must be some One strong enough and good enough to +care for all kinds of creatures. I do, indeed! Do you wonder it comforts +me? + +It was strange that after awhile the moon came struggling through the +black and angry sky. She rode high, did Luna,--that is the moon's +name,--and was at the full, and wherever the clouds parted for a moment, +a broad streak of luminous light shone down on great mountains of water, +leaping up and up, as if eager to crush everything before them. + +The wind did not soon go down, it could not; neither could I with my +utmost strength dive downwards through the piled-up, violent waves that +still rushed and roared, bounded and snapped with wild force. + +Luna had sailed toward the west, and a gleam of daylight was streaking +the sky at the east, before the churning, choppy waters began leaping +less high, and once again I was tossed crest-high, where I was glad to +catch sight of a sailing-vessel that was steadying herself in the +distance, and a white yacht was skipping like a frightened but rescued +bird afar off. + +I do not know whether I had been terribly afraid or not. I was not +afraid of the sea itself, it was what Folks call my "native element," +the place in which I was born, was natural to me, and I was native to +it. + +But yes, I think I was afraid that the coming together of those fierce +waves might crush me as they met in their terrible strength. The noise +of such a meeting could be heard miles away. Ships have been in great +peril from them, and fish have often had the life beaten out of them in +such a sea. + +Yet, naughty fellow that I was, no great harm came to me. As soon as I +saw my chance, head down I plunged, out of the harsh circle of the +storm. + +Oh, the peacefulness and the restfulness of those quiet lower regions! +For far below, all strife of angry billow and raging storm was unknown, +and glad enough was I to reach my mother's side. + +It may have been that my own plump sides were puffed out with the effort +I had made, and the storm's rough tossing, and my absence and the +direction I had taken all told my mother that something had gone hard +with me, and that I was glad to again be near her in the silent depths +of home. She floated with me close alongside, guided me to a restful +grove midst shimmering weeds that made a soft and silken couch, where in +the sweet stillness, lulled by the lap of gentle ripples against weed, +or shell, or bending sea-flowers, I glided off to dreamless slumber. + +And the last thing I saw before slipping off to quiet sleep was a little +bright-haired child on her knees, eyes closed, hands upraised and +folded: a child that was not afraid. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +A CORAL GROVE + +Perhaps you did not know that the fishes in the sea, both large and +small, were playful creatures. Well, they are. They can frisk, frolic, +play "hide-and-seek", "catch", and race and romp at a great rate. + +Now I want to tell something of our playground, and if you are surprised +at the beauty with which we are surrounded, why should you be? There +surely are lovely things on the earth for all kinds of upper-air +creatures, such as Folks, animals, birds, and insects, to enjoy. + +Listen, then, while I tell about the "caverns of ocean". A cavern, you +know, is a hollow or den, and old ocean holds many a cavern or den full +of interest and beauty. But I will take you first to a kind of grove. + +My home, where I spend most of my time, is in deep water. But not in the +deepest, oh, no! That is said to be two thousand fathoms down. Think of +it! More than two miles below the surface. There probably is but very +little life at that depth. But when I visit some groves, or the region +of a reef, I must first sail and sail until I reach water that is not +deep at all. + +Do you think you have ever seen coral, real coral? Yes, doubtless you +have, and you may have seen it in various forms. But I feel sure you +have never seen coral to know very much about it, as you have never been +to the bottom of the sea. + +Ah, here are all kinds of graceful shapes shooting up from the depths, +so singular and varied in form, that one would wonder what they are +meant to stand for. Look at these trees, perfect little trees in coral, +eight or ten feet high, with branches spreading out from the trunk. On +the branches are delicate sprays of fairylike net or lace-work, all in +white, but of various patterns. Should you get near enough, you would +see that these branches, some of which seem to bear flowers in shapes +like pinks or lilies, are dented or pitted as if tiny teeth had eaten +into them. This may be partly the work of worms. + +Now, this is simply a large piece of white coral, but all around and +about are fanciful shapes, nearly as large as the one described. Here, +too, are what might be taken for thick bushes or shrubs, branching out +with sprays of fretwork, white and spotless. Then there are smaller +growths like low plants, and curiously colored, some pink, some red, +others a yellowish white. These, too, appear to bear flowers, asters, +carnations, or roses. + +And for miles at a time we can rove and sport in a beautiful coral +grove. + +Think of a little house, if you can, made entirely of ivory, with here +and there bright tints mingling with the white. For coral looks like +ivory when its natural roughness is smoothed and polished. Think of +swimming through little rooms, under arches, over lovely walks, through +make-believe doors, slipping past upright altars of red and white coral, +resting on spreading seats, or under outreaching canopies, or stopping +to look at another outreaching shape like the arms of candelabra or +candlestick holders. Sliding over footstools, and under culverts, all +soft and gleaming in color. Then again there are curves and passages in +which we can hide and stay hidden as long as we please. Is it not +beautiful? And all so clean and clear! + +Yet there is need to take heed and be careful. These stretching shapes +and branches, these candle-holders and bushy twigs have sharp, hard +points, and bouncing against them too suddenly might severely wound a +fish, or it might slip into a crevice where it would be pricking work to +get out. + +Now, what is coral. Is it alive? Does it live and breathe? It is one of +the curious, mysterious things of the ocean about which Folks have +written and studied, and the wise ones say that coral is neither insect +nor fish, but a kind of sea-animal, that lives in both deep and shallow +waters. In the beginning it appears to be a tiny sea-creature, like a +small, fleshy bag, with a mouth at one end, while with the other it +clings to some object, almost always a rock. + +These little creatures are said to have the power to sting if they are +provoked. From these tiny frames there comes a hard, stony substance +that spreads and spreads as we have seen, while the part that was alive +becomes a mere dead shell. + +This is the best explanation I can give about coral and the tiny +creatures from which it takes its start, and that seem so exceedingly +small to me to be called "sea-animals." But think of the wonderful +formations that grow from the bodies of these mites of creatures! Why, +there are whole reefs or chains of rocky borders along some coasts made +entirely of coral. Some of them are known as barrier reefs. + +Bless you! it may be hard to believe, but a barrier reef twelve hundred +miles long runs along the coast of Australia between the Pacific and +Indian Oceans! Then there are coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, whole +platforms of solid coral which shut in portions of quiet water in some +places. + +The little corals themselves do not work in deep water, nor above the +surface of the sea. But the bony substance spreads and spreads, up, +down, and across the sea. And as many shell-fish eat into coral, great +quantities of fine coral-sand sink to the bottom, making a nice white +carpet for the fishes to glide over. Folks do not take coral from the +sea at any time but during the months you call April, May, and June. + +Now remember these things when you go into houses and see fine large +pieces of coral on the mantel, or it may be standing against the wall. + +Perhaps you have a coral necklace of little, uneven, red, stick-like +beads. The jeweller-man can tell you how very hard it is to drill the +holes in these beads; it is like drilling through hard rock. But if you +happen to have a necklace, brooch, or bracelet of pink coral, my! you +had better take good care of it, for it must have cost a little bag of +gold. Pink coral is rare, beautiful, and very expensive. The genuine +pink-tinted is said to have sold for so great a price as five hundred +dollars for a single ounce. + +Heigho! I want neither necklace, brooch, nor bracelet. For where, pray, +would Lord Dolphin wear a breastpin, or how would he look with a string +of coral beads about his neck, or a bracelet pinched about his tail? + +You needn't laugh so hard. I have seen Folks who hung too much jewelry +about themselves and seemed to think it becoming. A few pieces of nice +jewelry may be tasteful and ornamental, but when too much is worn, I +have a fancy that it might make a coral mite or an oyster want to laugh. + +Pretty soon I must explain why an oyster might have a right to be amused +at seeing too many gems crowded on at once. But first you must hear +something funny about coral, something so silly, too, that even a fish +is almost ashamed to tell of it; but this was true long in the past, +Folks are much wiser now. + +Long years ago there were Folks who believed that wearing a "charm," +which often was a little piece of coral, perhaps made into an ornament, +would charm away harm or danger, and keep them safe from "the evil eye." + +"Dear sakes!" you cry, "what was 'the evil eye'?" + +Well, it is almost sad to think that any one could be so foolish, yet +when Folks know but little, they will catch up strange notions and +listen to silly signs without an atom of truth or common sense in them. +So some ignorant Folks once believed that a witch, or some witchy Folk +with an evil eye, might look upon them and cause them harm, or make them +meet some danger. + +And they pretended that hanging a bit of coral somewhere about them +would keep off a look from "the evil eye," and that making children wear +a piece of it would charm away sickness and act as a medicine. Now did +you ever! + +Chinese Folks and Hindoos have made most exquisite and wonderful +carvings of the coral of the Mediterranean, and there is such a thing as +black coral, also known as brain coral, but it is too brittle to be +worked upon. + +Ah, who would not be a Dolphin, merry and free, whisking through deep, +still water, coasting over coral sands, and diving and sporting through +coral groves! + +Nor is this the only rare and curious place through which I rove, +chasing my comrades, wandering about in search of caverns below, and +sweet music above, while forever making war on my enemy, the +flying-fish. + +You see, these fish can cut through the water, reach the surface, then +really fly with finny wings across short spaces right in the air. They +think themselves smart, and are great braggarts. + +One morning a flying-fish was bent on worrying me, swishing its flapping +fins directly before my face, then darting upward, sending the spray +cross-wise into my eyes. I made a snap or two at the vexing creature, +but as I missed him he became bolder, and stopped a race I was having +with one of my mates. + +Suddenly I made a great leap after the flier, but up he went, up, up, +and I after him, sharp! Further up he went, and I pursued. He laughed, +fish-fashion, his big mouth sprawling way across his face as he sped +above the surface. + +I poked my nose into upper air and saw which way he was going, and to my +joy he made a dip just as up went my beak again, and I had him, squeezed +securely between my jaws. + +Of all the wriggling and squirming, the begging and the pleading that +ever you saw or heard! But I did not want to eat him, nor did I mean to +kill him, either. But I did mean to teach old Mister Flier a lesson, +showing it was neither wise nor in good taste to torment a fish-fellow +that was ever so much larger and stronger than himself. + +So down, down I went, until I reached a cell in a coral grove, and in I +popped his Majesty, and sat down and grinned at him. My turn to show a +wide mouth now. + +Did you know a fish could tremble? That fellow trembled and shook as if +he had a fishy fit when he found himself in that den, with a great +Dolphin's eye on him. Perhaps it was indeed "an evil eye" to him. He +could have slipped out and away would I only move and give him room. Oh, +no, not just yet! I lashed the water with my strong tail, and "made up +eyes" at him, I am afraid, in a truly evil way. + +Then I began to feel that it was neither kind nor noble to carry my +punishment too far, so off I slowly sailed, and out from his tight +corner slid my slippery prisoner. And he tormented me no more. I did not +mean to harm him, and do not think I did, but he slipped sideways +through the water ever after that. + +It must be that he jammed a fin in his haste to escape from his cubby, +but I see him often, and always with that sideways gait. I hope he is +cured forever of making of himself a pester and a plague. + +[Illustration: "MY TURN TO SHOW A WIDE MOUTH NOW"] + +I was glad to see that he still could fly, and that swift as an arrow he +could dart over and under, through and across, the thousand winding ways +of our coral groves. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE MERMAID'S CAVE + +As I have never been in a truly house, I cannot know of all the kinds of +carpets or coverings that Folks use on the floors. + +Yet I have had peeps at very lovely carpets, as in a ship's cabin, and I +know that velvet and fine, beautiful straw, as well as other kinds of +nice carpets, must be used in what Folks call their houses. + +Oh, but never has a floor of wood been covered with such wonderful +material, or covering of such marvellous workmanship, as that over which +I have roamed, and on which I have rested all my life. Yet, except in +deep waters, I will not pretend that my carpets are always very soft. + +In the deeper waters that I love, there are miles and miles of soft, +blue mud, that to a Dolphin is far more luxurious and enjoyable than the +thickest of velvet or the most closely, evenly plaited straw could be. +But when, after a long, delightful journey, I visit the regions of +shallower waters, ah, the beautiful things I could bring you, were there +a tunnel, a car, or an air-shaft to convey me safely to land! + +What are these shining, many-colored things I see lying about, with all +kinds of fishes sailing around and playing with, as a child plays with +blocks or cards? + +Shells! all kinds and shapes, many of them rough outside but smooth and +glossy as glass inside. + +What is a shell? You know the word "marine," called ma-_reen_, means +belonging to the sea, so shells are marine curiosities, for they are +always found in or near the sea. And they are really the hard, outer +covering of some sea-animal or other. + +But how can I describe shells such as I have looked upon a thousand +times? You have seen some kinds, I know, but they would not even pass as +samples of the splendid shapes and tints that lie scattered around my +floor. A few Folks have made a study of the different kinds of shells +that have floated or been carried to the shore, and have been able to +tell the class of sea-animals to which they have belonged. They once +were the coats or outside garment of a swimmer or a clinger of the sea. + +One day a mother-Dolphin missed her boy-Dolphin, and as he was quite a +young fellow, she felt much distressed. Away she sailed, peering amidst +the many objects covering the sea-floor. + +Do you suppose it is an easy matter to find a fish that has got lost? I +caught the flying-fish because he never got far away from me. But here +was a young rascal that had gone off roaming, almost before he knew how +to feed himself, and search as she might, nowhere could his mother find +the rogue of a runaway. + +If you will believe it, he was gone a week, then back he came, his eyes +as big as saucers. You see, I know how to say some things that Folks do; +by and by you will find out how I learned them. + +Master Dolphy had a story to tell. He made us understand in +fish-language that he had found a wonderful, wonderful cave, where a +party of mermaids had collected a lot of shells, oh, enough to fill a +great house! + +Now, I can't tell a thing as to the truth about mermaids. But "they +say," that is, Folks and fishes say, that they are strange, fascinating +creatures, with the head, shoulders, arms, and breast of a beautiful +woman, and part of the body and the tail of a fish. Sometimes they are +called sea-nymphs; others call them sirens. + +Have you ever lived by the sea? And on stormy evenings, when rain was +rattling on the window-pane, and the wind went screaming around the +house, have you ever imagined there were queer calls, and have you seen +strange shapes thrown up by the waves? + +Or have you ever heard an old sailor or an old fisherman tell stories of +the deep? If not, you cannot take in the kind of spell or enchantment +that lingers about the sea after listening to these sounds or hearing +these stories. They are all mixed up with the "myth" stories you heard +of a little way back. + +But these stories have been told ever since the world was young. And the +mermaids are said to be daughters of the river-god that have lived ever +in the deep and sounding ocean. + +And they were strange and weird--that is, wild, unnatural, and witching. +They would appear in both calm and stormy weather. + +Sirens were sometimes thought to be different from mermaids, but we +fishes know them to be one and the same thing--that is, if they exist at +all. It used to be said that a mermaid murmured, but that a siren sang, +with dangerous sweetness. Both murmur and both sing, one as much as the +other. + +They will all at once be seen poised on perilous rocks, their long and +splendid hair floating back in the wild wind, their eyes shining like +stars, their faces bright and glorious, their white arms and gleaming +shoulders rising like snow from midst the dark and stormy waves. + +Ah! the singing, the beckoning, and the coaxing of a mermaid! Let me +tell you how they work. + +They have a sly, four-legged creature on land, all dressed in fur, and +sporting a fine, thick tail, and they say that when this Madame Puss +wants to catch a bird that is wheeling in the air, she will manage to +first catch its eye. Then the little creature will not be able to look +away, but will wheel and circle, and circle and wheel, all the time +coming nearer, until, if no one frightens Madame Puss away, she will +keep her yellow eye fixed on the eye that she has caught, until the bird +flies close to her and is caught. + +This is called "charming a bird." And the truth must be that poor +birdie, after catching sight of that great, shining eye, does not see +Madame Puss herself, but only the bright eye, and being unable to look +away, flies nearer and nearer the strange, glittering light, until +Madame Puss makes a spring, and all is over. + +[Illustration: "WHITE FACES SEEMED TO RISE AND RIDE ATOP OF THE FOAMING +BILLOWS"] + +Just so, it is said, the sailors cannot look away from the fair, +wonderful creatures tossing their rich hair, beckoning wildly, singing +and singing with a sweetness that is not natural or earthly, until, what +with the beauty and luring, and voices of honey, the poor sailormen are +close against the rocks, and do not seem to know that they are charmed +or harmed when the waters close softly over them. + +I do not know whether I have ever seen a mermaid or not. But when I took +that dangerous voyage up into the storm circle, I saw strange shapes +that I never saw before, and heard sounds that were new to my ear. Two +or three times I thought I saw streaming hair, and white faces seemed to +rise and ride atop of the foaming billows. + +But when one is very much excited, will not imagination produce almost +any kind of an object that happens to come into the mind? Ah, I am +afraid so. Still, there are both Folks and fishes that believe in the +mermaids and their songs, and what am I that I should dare dispute them! + +Yet--let me whisper--I have heard that Folks who do not know so very +much, will tell about "goblins," "spooks," and "catch-ums," and whenever +there is talk about the mermaids and the sirens, I think of those Folks +who believe in creatures that "never were." + +But it would not do to talk in my watery home as if I had no belief in +mermaids, because, you see, as most fishes have never been with Folks, +and learned a thing or two from them, they do not know any better than +to believe in these sweet, dangerous creatures. + +So, now, here came Dolphy, with flapping fins, wild eye, and his story +of a mermaid's cave. Then a party was made up to go and see the rare and +amazing place. + +Well, it did look as if some creatures of surprising taste and skill had +brought together a collection of shells such as are never seen above the +surface of the sea, and formed, indeed, a cave fit for a mermaid's home. + +I know little about time, but it must have been days and nights I stayed +in the enchanting place, roving hither and thither, rubbing my fins +against the soft, smooth shells, and half wondering how they really came +to be grouped together in such shining rows. + +And the colors! And the shapes! Some were well-opened on the inside, and +looked as if entirely covered with pink enamel. They were of clear, +ivory white, pinkish white, pale rose, deep rose, pale yellow, or straw +color, orange yellow, blue and green mixed in glossy sheen, shades of +pink running into rich reds, purples and grayish pinks, making the fair, +sweet mother-o'-pearl. + +Some were cup-shaped, having deep hollows. Should you hold your ear +fairly shut into one of these, it is said you would hear always as often +as you so held it, the roaring of the ocean. And a roaring sound you +would hear, in very truth. Yet, let me tell you! Take a common china +cup, shut your ear into it, and the same roaring will be heard. + +Is that old ocean? No, it is simply the sound of your own blood coursing +through your veins. + +A wide-awake Frenchman once wrote that, could you look within your own +body and see the engines pumping, the valves opening and shutting, the +pipes working, and the whole machinery in action, it would surprise and +perhaps scare you into the bargain. + +We have got a little off the track, but it is well to know the facts +about these things. Now we will return to the shells. + +Look at that splendid one shaped like a bowl, but with pink lips rolled +back, through which can be seen changing tints of pink and white. Here +is one that is oblong, lined with rose enamel, but having strange horns +pointing out at one side. + +See that beauty, wide open and shaped like a saucer. Dear me, hold it a +little toward the light, and there gleams every color of the rainbow on +the polished surface. Here is another, striped with hair-like lines in +red, yellow, blue, and brown. There is a fan, wide open, beautifully +polished; it has no handle, but its coloring is in nearly all tints, and +changeable in the light. What a lovely thing is this heart-shaped shell, +with a line along the centre, and beautifully blending colors on either +side. There are many of these scattered around. + +Now, how can I describe these singular yet perfect shapes banked up +against rocks that are completely hidden on the inside of the cave? + +Over there is a funny, snarly head, with fine shreds of hair laced over +a smooth shell. Ah, what gleams of colored light shoot through the hair! +Here is a bird's nest on a bar, lying side of a wide fan, shaped like a +palm leaf; in the plaitings are curled all colors, pink, blue, yellow, +and green. + +This shell is like a foot with eighteen or twenty toes, smooth, shining, +and of flesh-like tints. This is like a bat's wing, with lines and webs +finely tinted. Look at that enamelled jug with a pipe at the top. Near +by is a perfect leaf on a small branch. + +Do see this worm, ringed around with dark purple stripes. Isn't it +queer? In that corner is a trumpet, splendidly colored inside. That +shape over there must be a fool's cap, one mass of sheeny tints inside. +Here are beautifully rounded little bowls, all scalloped around the top; +ah, see them glisten and change shades as the light strikes them! + +See the beetle-bugs, with horns sticking out in every direction. And if +here isn't a perfect shape of a lady's slipper! The lady should wear it +inside out, so all could see its exquisite mother-o'-pearl. + +Here are shells exactly like the feathery wing of a bird, and how birdie +would enjoy snuggling his soft head against the exquisite smoothness of +these shells! + +Is that a large carrot split lengthwise? It looks like it, but no carrot +split along its length ever brought to light such rainbows as glint +along these. Those shells looking so much like rattles would amuse a lot +of babies if they could play in the mermaid's cave. They would try to +catch the fine colors, and might cry when they changed and changed, and +then appeared to dance away. + +Those serpents, some half uncoiled, some out straight, will not bite. +Those flashes are not from dangerous eyes, but are only fine shell +tints. + +Here are a lot of squat jars for holding small ornaments. They are +ornaments themselves. Are they not? And what queer combs with three +shining rows of teeth, each tooth a point of color. + +Really, I might as well stop. There would be no use in trying to +describe a third of these shapes, and as to coloring, with all I have +said, you can have but a faint idea of the soft, brilliant, ever +changing hues and gleams in the mermaid's cave. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +MY GARDENS + +Long as I have talked of shells, I must say a word or two more about +shells that are used as stones. + +When I was on land a little while, I noticed in front of a few houses, +walks, that I knew at a glance were made from clam-shells. So I knew +that Folks must have machines for pounding up shells. Such a beautiful, +clean, white walk as they make! + +Then, before some fine-looking houses were great conch-shells, oblong +and twisted in shape, but pink and smooth inside. Many of them were +placed around lovely fountains, or urns of flowers. + +But I want to tell of one very beautiful and costly kind of ornament +that is made from some conch-shells, pronounced "konk." + +Romans and Greeks, but especially the Greeks, used to cut "cameos" from +the onyx-stone. And men skilled in cutting fine stones and jewels have +cut most exquisite cameos, or faces, from the kind of conch-shell that +has two layers, one dark, the other light. + +The word "cameo" is said to mean one stone upon another. The "queen +conch" is a splendid shell, with two distinct layers, one white, the +other pink. Out of the white layer is carved perhaps the face of a +woman, with a crown of flowers on her head, or it may be the head of a +knight, with a helmet on. + +But think of the fineness of the tools that must be used, the tiny files +and chisels in carving the lovely, delicate shells. The shell cameos +with the pink lower stone and white upper figure, are most expensive of +all; other shells have brown or black lower layers, and these are not as +choice. + +But when you see your grandma or great-auntie wearing a lovely +old-fashioned breastpin, bound around with gold, and holding a pink +stone, shining like crystal, with a white carved head or other figure +standing out from the lower stone, you may know it is a very valuable +ornament, and was probably made from one of the finest shells found in +the sea. Imitations are made from porcelain, but very likely grandma's +or great-auntie's will be the real conch-shell. + +Perhaps you did not know that there are fair and beautiful gardens in +my watery home. You may have picked up sprays or bunches of seaweed when +running along the beach, and some were perhaps quite pretty, while +others had turned brown and looked much like leather. + +Would you like to come with Lord Dolphin and take a swim through an +ocean garden? You would doubtless see such a sight as you had never +dreamed could be seen down in the blue water. + +All right, I'll turn into a fairy godfather, clap you on to my back, +give you the lungs of a mermaid, to prevent your choking in the water, +and then, come on! Or, rather, I should say, come down! + +"Why, why! A fairylike scene indeed!" you cry. + +Now you have not taken on "the evil eye" in coming to the bottom of the +sea, but you have taken a "fish eye." Folks usually hate fishy eyes, but +no matter, you couldn't see the first thing down here with your own +natural peepers, so be thankful that for a time you can see with eyes +like mine. + +Now, this is not a coral grove, it is a garden of flowers, and when you +exclaim again, "Oh, but I had no idea of this!" I should have to reply, +"Of course you hadn't; no more had I of the strange and beautiful +things on the land, until I had to live there a little while." + +Folks call these flowers, such as they have seen of them, weeds, +seaweeds. And I suppose they have to come under that name, as they are +not planted from seeds, but are a wild growth. Ah, but some great +Planter or Gardener surely put all these wonderful shapes and splendid +tints in the soft earth of a sea-garden. And it is all so blithe and +gay! + +Here are nearly all the shapes in bushes and almost trees that you have +in your garden on land. And as to flowers, there are leaves, spires, +cups, bells, tassels, very much such as you see in your garden at home. + +See these beautiful crimson leaves, as large as the top of a small +table, and cut in such fine, even scallops around the edges, and here is +one with a great pad of yellow right on the crimson. My! My! is it not +colored richly? + +Here are leaves shooting out like rafts, thick, like the leaves of a +rubber-tree, but larger and of a deep red. You might take a sail on one +of them. And here is a bush, shooting upright from its muddy bed, all +covered with pink sprays, on which are pink blossoms. Doesn't it make +you think of a syringa bush? Only these flowers are pink. + +Next comes this plant with a large olive green stem covered thickly +with branches, bearing flowers resembling pink roses. Were this plant +taken to the church some Sunday morning and placed on the pulpit-stand, +you may believe that after the service Folks would go crowding about the +altar, eager to find out its name and whence it came. + +What a clucking of surprise there would be when it was told that not +from any hothouse whatever, but from the depths of the ocean came the +full, lovely sea-roses. + +Are these sprays of pink coral? No, they are sea-rods and branches. If +you pinch the thick stems, water will ooze out, for they are partly +hollow, like the pond-lily stem. + +I do not wonder you look with questioning surprise at that next plant. +It is like a mass of purple bushes, a very sweet growth rather hard to +describe. All through the delicate branches are what look like small +dark berries, seen through a mist of pinkish, hairy spires. + +Don't start. These merry fishes darting through the next clump of bushes +have only come to smell of the carnation pinks the bushes bear. Are they +not strangely like your garden carnations? + +See the fishes nip at those singular pink flowers with a thick fringe +hanging from the edges. It is a shame to spoil them, but some fishes +always seem to think that graceful fringe droops down on purpose for +them to peck at. + +Now if the baby were only here, you could seat him on these broad, flat +leaves, with delicate spires all along the edges, and all of so deep a +crimson they surely would attract any child. + +What a queer flower! like the backbone of a fish with all the little +bones at the side standing out stiff and pointed, and all in pinks and +purples. + +Right in the midst of another plot of thick, flat leaves rises a mass of +pink sea-lilies, and they are beautiful; but do examine the next bed of +leaves. Are they not curious? A thick, hollow-looking stem goes through +the middle of them, and on one side of the stem they are a deep pink, on +the other side, yellow. + +Here are flowers shaped like horns and trumpets. What a forest of pinks, +greens, and yellows! And here are the greens. Such greens as you have +never seen before. + +Now suppose you were going to have a party. What decorations you could +have if only the ocean blooms would keep fresh for you to use. There +would be masses of fine furze that would be perfectly beautiful to crowd +over the pictures; silky threads that, placed on creeping green plants, +would look lovely carried along the table; yellow flowers in the midst +of masses of fine sea-mosses, and sea-ferns would make your little mates +wonder where the fresh, strange things grew. + +And there could he yards and yards of ribbons. Ribbons? Yes, long, long +sprays of yellowish green sea-ribbon, four or five inches wide, going +down to narrower ones not more than an inch in width. + +Perhaps you would like some sea-thistles. Here they are, in thick +bunches, fine and hairy, in faint, fair shades of green. And what can +this be that looks so much like a sponge? Ah, it is a tuft of moss with +green spires shooting up in the middle. + +Take care! Here are bunches of cactus with prickly leaves. Look out! +don't catch your toe in those sea-ferns. Even that sweet green +maiden-hair fern might pin down your foot so firmly that it would take a +fish's sharp tooth to set you free. + +You may ask, why are not these beautifully colored and curiously shaped +things brought on shore and sold, as they might be, for much money? And +why are they not at least put where Folks can see, learn about them, and +admire them? + +But wait a moment; what would be the effect if any one took a bunch of +your garden roses, pinks, or lilies, put them under water, and kept them +there? They would very soon be a drooping, shapeless mass. They are +formed for a different element, and could not nourish under water, +especially salt water. + +Just so ocean-flowers, and sea-tints can only live in their own element, +which is not air, but water. And the faces on our water-pansies--for we +have them--would soon fade in what to them would be lifeless air, just +as the garden pansies would lose their bright faces in the salt sea. + +Great quantities of seaweeds float ashore and are often dried and used +as fuel, or perhaps are put around garden plants to make them grow. + +But nothing that grows on the land, or in the water, can exchange places +one with the other and keep alive. It is all very curious, and more than +I can understand. Yet every creature and every plant is fitted to the +place it grows in, and is natural to it. The food, the flowers, and the +land for the use of Folks, and the food, the plants, and the water for +the use of fishes, are just what the nature of each requires. What +wisdom! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +MY TREASURE GROUNDS + +Are you tired? No? Well, that is no great wonder. It is ever so much +easier to glide through the water on the broad back of a great fish than +to ride horseback, or in a car. + +My sails or fins flap quietly to and fro, the water parts readily to +make us a path, no rough winds blow away your hat, there is no danger +way down here that a boat will bang against us, and roll you off into a +cavern or a cave. + +Now I am taking you into deeper water, which still is not so very deep, +but I want to show you some other strange things in the world I live in. + +Here we go sailing in and out of rocks, but do not be alarmed, I know +them all. Perhaps you wonder what it is that we keep pressing against, +something soft and smooth that sends extra sprays of water over us. What +can it be? + +Well, now, put on your thinking-cap. What does your mother wash the +baby with? What does Michael wash the carriage with? And what is that +object in the wire holder in the bath-tub? + +"Ah, a sponge!" you exclaim. Yes, and here is where they grow. "What, +sponges grow?" you ask. Certainly. And just as with the coral, it took +Folks a long time to find out whether sponges were plants, shrubs, or +insects. + +Now it is decided that the sponge is an animal growth. And the same as +with coral, the tiny creature that it starts from dies, and out from the +skeleton, or frame, branches the sponge that sometimes grows very large, +and sometimes is of a kind that remains small. One may be as big as a +mop, others no larger than an egg. + +Down in the blue Mediterranean Sea are found the best sponges that grow. +They are called "horny sponges," and grow in great masses, fine, yet +tough and durable. A sponge from the Mediterranean, called the "Turkey +sponge," will cost three times as much as a coarser, more brittle one +from other waters. They are porous, or full of little holes and hollows. + +We fishes like to bang against the sponges and feel the sudden spray +dash over us. Water we have all around and about us, but a shower-bath +is not as common a thing. + +When you buy a sponge, it is round, flat, or cone-shaped. Now see what +they look like under water. Here is a little tree, you say. Oh, no, it +is only a mass of sponges piled together and branching out as they grow. + +Here are fans, arches, tiny caves, and many different shapes forming a +sponge-garden. Queer, isn't it? Oh, lots of things are queer until you +learn about them. + +Would you like to see how I wash myself? Don't laugh so loud, you might +scare the fishes. I know very well that it seems to you as if I was +washing or bathing all the time, but there! Some kind of a water-bug has +plumped right down onto my head, and left a lot of sticky sand on it, +that the water does not wash away. + +Now don't be alarmed. I won't let you be swept from my back. I am only +going to wash my head. See me swim directly under this mass of sponge, +swaying out from a rock. There will be no bits of sand clinging to me +after I have been sponged a few moments. + +Here is a sponge that looks as if almost as large as your sun when it +rises out of the water, but if you squeeze that fellow dry--the sponge, +not the sun--it will not begin to be the size it is now. You could press +it into a bowl of moderate size when dry, but then take it to the pump +or the faucet, fill it with water, and my, what a balloon! + +Sponges were once called "worm-nests," and were thought to be a mere +kind of seaweed. But looked at under the sea, it would be known at once +that they are neither nest nor weed. + +Once in awhile sponges seem to spring directly up from the mud without +anything to cling to, but generally they are fastened to rocks or large +stones, and spread out and out from them. Here they look so much like a +kind of herb, that Folks who make a study of things in nature, and are +called naturalists, for a long time took them to be a kind of sea-plant, +and for years it was a puzzle as to just what they were. + +All are full of pores or layers of small cells, and some are quite +pretty from having a fringe about the cells like eyelashes. There are +others curiously shaped, looking like coral sprays, and here and there +they look like helmets; then there is another form that seems to have +long fingers running out, and is called "mermaid's gloves." + +The form called "Venus flower-basket," large and basket-shaped, might +answer for a mermaid's work-basket, and hold her thimble, scissors, and +thread. You had better take care! A mermaid may be near this very +moment, and hear you laughing. And remember, she could spin you round +from one end of the sea to another, then leave you high and dry on a big +rock in the middle of the ocean. + +Now, on what do sponges feed? Dear sakes, as if they fed on anything! +Yet they do. Although they branch and bunch out in the forms described, +yet they do not roam about, but only float or swim out as far as they +can stretch themselves while firmly fastened to a rock. Here they take +in specks or particles that float through the water; they pass through +the open pores of the body, and answer for food. The water constantly +passing through them serves to refresh and keep them round and healthy. + +Here we come to a perfect thicket of sponges, and see the fishes playing +"tag" all around and about them. There! that sly little fish, like a +salt water pickerel, nipped the tail of that great clumsy +porpoise--porpus--so hard, I heard the big fish grunt. The teeth of a +pickerel are fearfully long and sharp. + +Oh! Oh! What is that most beautiful thing we see shining with a faint, +sweet glow, down at the bottom of the sea? It is in plain sight, nestled +in the heart of a conch-shell. It is round, has a milk-like murkiness, +yet pinky, changing lights like tiny stars, that glint and gleam as you +look upon it. + +Now believe me! Of all the treasures of the sea I have told you of or +shown you, this is far and away the most precious. + +It is a pearl. Only once in a great while will so perfect and so +valuable a gem be found near my deep water home. And although we are not +so very far east, yet it would be called an "Orient," or an "Eastern +pearl." + +Perhaps it has floated in its polished pink bed from a far eastern sea. +I told you a little while ago that I must explain what an oyster had to +do with Folks that sported too many jewels, and why it might be amused +at the sight. + +Did you know that inside of an oyster-shell grew the lovely, costly +pearls that Folks will give a great deal of money for? Why, Queen +Victoria of England had a Scotch pearl that cost two hundred dollars. +Queens and princes, rich Folks, jewellers, and dealers in precious +stones, will give great sums of money for necklaces, brooches, or rings +that have in them the precious Oriental pearls. + +I had to listen very hard to find out what I did about pearls. But I +found that they have been known, talked of, and written about, almost +ever since the beginning of the world. + +Oyster-beds are generally much nearer the shore than most kinds of +shells. It is said to be when an oyster gets restless or uneasy that a +strange substance enters the edge of the shell, and after a time a pearl +is formed. And while many pearls are found in oyster-shells, they also +are often found fastened to the pink bosom of a conch-shell. + +There are black pearls of much value, but though rare, they are never +half as beautiful as a white or pink one. Some pink pearls are very +lovely, and when large-sized, are also very expensive. + +The pearl we see lying here is a splendid white one, and my! the money +it would bring! Pick up that shell, carry it with you to a jeweller, and +see the dollars the fair round gem will bring to your purse. You could +buy yourself beautiful clothes, or a pony, or could have with it a fine +party, flowers, favors, treat and all. + +What? Don't dare to? Oh, me, me, what a little coward! I can't pick it +up very well. If I took it in my mouth, down my throat it would go. If I +tried to catch it up with a fin, over into the water it would bounce. + +Never mind. Look at the sweetly beautiful conch-shell, with the +splendid gem resting so softly on its pink, polished side. And let me +tell you what I think. + +The opinion of a fish, even a great lordly one, may not be worth much, +but to me that exquisitely lovely stone, reposing on that exquisitely +lovely shell, is a far more beautiful thing to look upon than the jewel +ever could be when fitted into the costliest setting of gold. + +Now it is just as it was made, and I think that Whoever formed and set +that pearl knew more about real beauty and fitness, and what is simple, +natural, and very beautiful, than all the Folks and jewellers in the +world. + +Look at that white splendor. Don't you agree with me? + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +WHAT I SAW ONE DAY + +Now I do not know how brave an English lord may be or how much it may +take to scare him, but I, Lord Dolphin, inhabitant of the great +Mediterranean Sea, was scared nearly out of my wits and skin by the +sight I saw one day. + +But there is this to comfort me: if I was a coward at the sight, there +were plenty of other creatures in the sea to keep me company. Mercy on +us! Such a scuttling and rushing, such a whisking and a whacking, flying +and plunging, I for one never saw before. There was actually a chorus of +flapping fins and thumping tails as we raced for our lives. + +Was it a steam-engine or a monster boiler that was coming right down +from upper regions into our midst? Or, had some new sea-monster fallen +from the skies to drive us from our hunting and fishing grounds? + +We knew something about sea-lions, the huge creature that you may have +seen at the Zoo, or in a tank at the park, lifting itself like an +enormous sea-horse, and roaring like the animal whose name it bears. But +a sea-lion would not have cut through the water from way above. It would +have come steering along like a great black vessel, puffing and blowing, +while all the time it would have been a creature of the sea, and we +should have known it, and not have been so terrified. + +Or, had a whale come bearing down from upper waters, as they sometimes +do, there would have been a disturbance first, made by the spouting and +slashing that our instinct at once would have told us came from some +monster of the deep. + +Or, again, had it been the hulk of a vessel that could not stand some +violent storm, oh, yes, we should have known what that was, too. But +now, off tore the fishes, mad with terror, big fishes, little fishes, +fat fellows, lean fellows, pleasant ones, and grumblers. + +I laughed, yes, with all my fright I had to laugh at such a funny sight. +I was behind what Folks call "whole schools of fishes," only they speak +of "a school of fish," meaning many of one kind, but the madcap crowd I +looked upon was made up of almost every size and sort. + +[Illustration: "OFF TORE THE FISHES, MAD WITH TERROR"] + +I saw a porpoise--porpus--my enormous cousin, all of fifteen feet +long, crowd in midst a multitude of swift little swimmers, as if he +meant to make them help in spinning him through the water faster than he +could go by himself. Then on the back of another Dolphin, I saw a crowd +of little fishes that seemed so stiff with fear, they had been knowing +enough to cling to the back of the great fish, making a boat of him to +bear them to a place of safety. + +Paddling sideways, I caught a glimpse of the flying-fish that had been +my tormentor. All at once I stopped short. + +Now they say that some Folks are very curious. I do not mean that they +are odd or amusing to look at. But they have curiosity, and want to peer +and pry into things. It is not at all nice to want to find out all about +other Folks' affairs. It belongs to a poor, mean nature to want to do +that. But to want to inquire into matters for the sake of getting true +knowledge is right and worthy even for a fish. + +And suddenly I had determined to see just what that amazing creature +could be. If it caught and swallowed me alive, it might, but--it would +take a pretty big swallow to make away with Lord Dolphin. I confess to +going to work very much like a sneak. But it was quite easy, seeing all +the other fishes had made off and left me a clear field, to hide midst a +bed of tall sea-bushes. + +So, very gently back I paddled, with motion slow and noiseless, to the +region where the monster had come down. + +How shall I describe it? In the first place, I had never seen such a +shape before. The time when I was borne aloft on high waves, and looked +into a ship's cabin, I saw forms something like unto this one in some +respects, but, dear sakes, not with such hideous parts! But now, to name +at once and describe afterwards,-- + +It was a _diver_! + +The diver belongs to the Folks family, but, bless us, his rig! Imagine, +if you can, a black object, with a great bunchy machine of a head, and +for the rest, a mass of fixtures, such as would puzzle a far more stupid +creature than a Dolphin to make out. + +I have seen a diver many times since then, and am now able to tell a +little about the fantastic-looking being. Of course, there is very much +more to be known, but if you remember what I say, it will give you some +idea of a diver's outfit that may linger in your mind, to be added to as +you grow older. + +First, then, close to his skin are warm woollen garments, sometimes two +or even three sets of them. If the weather is cold, he may have on two +or three pairs of warm stockings. How would you like being bundled up in +that way? Yet that is only the beginning. + +Close to his head is a woollen cap coming down over his ears. Thick +shoulder-pads keep his outside suit from grazing or hurting, and it may +be that other pads are about his body. He next goes into an outside suit +of India rubber, covered both inside and outside with a tanned twill +which is water-proof, and the rubber itself has been treated in a way to +make it very hard and lasting. There is a double collar about the neck, +of tough, sheet rubber, and one is to draw well up about the neck. + +He must have assistance in getting into these rigid clothes, for it is +hard working the arms into the stiff sleeves, and forcing the hands +through cuffs which are made to expand or let out as they are drawn on, +then close tight in some odd way with rubber rings and joints at the +wrist, making the sleeves perfectly air tight. + +Great care is taken in dressing the diver. Everything must fit +perfectly, every screw must be properly wound in, every strap and buckle +made fast, or the poor diver may be in great danger. His breastplate of +copper is fastened on with metal clasps or bolts. A fixture at his back +steadies the weights both back and front, weighing forty pounds each. +These weights, it must be, are in some way supported by the ropes with +which they let him down. + +Such boots! Stout leather, with soles of lead, securely strapped on, and +weighing at least twenty pounds each. A band fitted about his waist is +kept in place by strong braces. + +Then his helmet! Tinned copper, and full of screws, pipes, and hooks. On +the face part were three openings as in a lantern, in which were screwed +plate-glasses, or bull's-eyes. These, of course, were to see through, +and stood out like little telescopes, or half-tumblers, with brass +frames around them called "guards" which protect the glass, that is +thick and strong. + +There were also queer valves, or tubes, in the helmet for letting out +bad air, yet so contrived that no water could get in. A hook was on +either side, through which ropes must pass. + +The diver can breathe while under water by means of an air-pipe, and by +pulling on a life-line, can make his wants known to those above. + +When the diver is all ready to descend, a man at the pump begins +supplying him with air, and down he goes, first on an iron ladder at +the vessel's side, then on long ladders of rope, with heavy weights at +the ends. + +I peeped from midst great weed-pads, and saw the diver as he reached the +bottom of the sea. Do you wonder I trembled, yet was amused at what I +saw? In his hands this time--for I saw him more than once after +this--was a great hook and a light bag with a wide-open mouth. And what +do you think? He had come to get sponges from the blue sea. Of course +not at very great depth. + +He knew his work. With the long hook, sponge after sponge was torn from +its clung-to home on the slippery rocks, and quickly popped into the +bag. He always moved backwards. If anything stopped him, rock, wreck, or +floating weeds, he could turn slowly and carefully around, and see what +it was. But should he meet an object suddenly at the fore, it might +break even his shielded glass. Then he must immediately give the signal +to be raised aloft. + +Divers must begin by going down only a little way under the water, as it +takes great skill and long practice to be able to go safely into deep +water. A diver has about him a coil of line connected with the ladder, +which he unwinds as he moves away; but by winding it about him again, +he can find his way back to the ladder. + +If two divers go down at the same time, I notice they take great care +not to let their air-lines or life-lines cross each other's, and so get +entangled. It might be a very serious affair to get them mixed. + +I see that divers may go down from either a barge, a sailing vessel, or +a large yacht, but there must be a deck that can hold the necessary +machines and rigging to help them in their work. By casting down heavy +pieces of lead, the sailor-Folk can "sound," or tell the distance to the +bottom of the sea. The diver's line must always be twice the length of +the distance he goes down. + +I did not find this all out at once. Oh, by no means, but by not running +away I gradually learned a great deal. And I was so glad I saw the queer +performance! The frightened fishes were not quick to come back to their +playground, where such a looking object had come swinging down, and when +he came again the next day, and the next, I had the place to myself, and +watched while he pretty well cleared that region of its fine, valuable +sponges. + +The next time I saw a diver it was in deeper water. I was sporting to +and fro at another time when there was just such a panic among the +fishes as I had seen before, and just such a scramble. + +Down, down came the fearsome looking object, while I mixed myself in +with a mass of sea-flowers, and keeping perfectly still, was not +noticed. The diver's dress was much the same as the other's had been; he +went backwards in the same cautious way, but instead of a long-handled +hook, he carried only a queer bag that was let down to him by ropes. + +The bag was deep, and had a frame along the top, with a scraper fastened +to it. And what do you think again? He began scraping in all the +conch-shells he could see that had what looked like a dab of mud or a +milky spot on the side. + +He was after pearls! + +Divers often fish for pearls midst oyster-beds, and in more shallow +water, but there are nets or dredgers also used for that purpose. But I +at once knew that very valuable pearls must often be found in +conch-shells and deep-sea oyster-shells, as the diver scraped in all of +both that he could find. + +Remember! All kinds of shell-fish are called "mollusca," have white +blood, and breathe not only in the water, but also in the air. + +And will you believe it? I have found out considerable about the signals +that a diver gives to the man at the pump on deck. + +If he wants to be pulled up, be gives the life-line four sharp pulls. +If he wants more air, he gives one pull at the air-pipe. Two pulls on +the life-line, and two pulls on the air-pipe, given quickly one after +the other, mean that he is in trouble, and wants the help of another +diver. One pull on the life-line means "all right." + +There are many other signals I could not find out the meaning of, so can +say nothing about. My instincts, as well as what I have noticed, tell me +that a diver must be in the best of health, must be rather thin, have +excellent eyesight, sound lungs, steady nerves, and a strong heart. The +work is not easy. I wonder if work that pays well is often easy? I do +not believe it is. + +There used to be a strange machine in use called the "diving-bell." A +great cast-iron cage, shaped something like a bell, let down by ropes, +and so heavy that its own weight would sink it. Divers could sit inside, +and fresh air was supplied by a force-pump. Bull's-eyes of heavy glass +let in the light. + +This must have frightened the fishes quite as much as did the diver, +although it was not as frightful in appearance. + +After a time, when the diver came down, some of my mates, seeing I was +not a bit afraid if only hidden from sight myself, stayed near me under +the broad seaweeds, but most of them fled far and wide at his approach. + +The divers themselves are not free from danger. Great sea-serpents or +sharks sometimes make it hot for them, but they are watchful, spry, and +being "Folks," with power to think and plan, can generally look out for +themselves and their safety. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +MY STRANGE ADVENTURE + +Now come the most exciting and in some respects the hardest events of my +life thus far. + +I have told of my great love of music, and have also said that the +Dolphin family is a very sociable one. Yes, and I could grow fond of +Folks, I know, if only they could live in the sea, or I could live on +the land. But as neither of these things can be, I must be content with +liking them at a distance. + +One afternoon I was full of sport, and felt lively as a cricket. Oh, +yes, I know the small, frisky fellow you call a cricket, with his little +old black legs, and have heard him sing. So on this calm and lovely +afternoon I began leaping upward instead of forward, and all at once I +heard sounds of music floating across the upper sea. You can believe I +floundered alongside, and oh, such sweetness as trilled out into the +clear air! + +The truth was, a great steamer was crossing the Mediterranean with a +pleasure party on board. What I heard was the music of a brass band. My! +My! Isn't it enough to delight the heart of any creature that has ears +to hear? It actually would make a fish dance. + +Now I didn't know it, but I made such plunges upward that my great dark +body could be seen in the clear water, and some sailors began "laying" +for me, half suspecting what might happen. + +Well-a-well, I got so full of music, joy, and friskiness, that all at +once I gave a tremendous jump, and flounced right on to the deck of the +fine steamer. Had I not been so utterly surprised, I should immediately +have flounced back again to my ocean bed "quick shot," as I afterward +heard a sailor say. But dear, deary me! I hesitated just a moment too +long, and when I made a flop intending to bounce away, lo! a stout rope +was about my body, and another about my tail, and I was a prisoner! + +Then the Folks all gathered about me, and the sailors went laughing off, +saying something about "making the fellow's bed." + +Oh, it was all very strange and unnatural. And in a few moments I began +panting for breath. Just as you would gasp, if by accident you popped +over from a boat into the water. Only you would gasp for want of air, +and I was gasping from too much of it. + +But it was not long before I was taken to a side of the vessel, and +after straining and tugging with my great weight, I was indeed bounced +into water, but when I tried to swim, oh, misery! what kind of a place +was I in? + +Only a tank, some twenty feet long by fifteen feet wide, filled with sea +water! + +Truth was, there was a man-Folk on board who had caught, and wanted to +carry to a great park in some far-distant land, a crocodile. Boo! a +great sea-reptile that I wonder any one should want to have around, even +as a curiosity. It had been taken from the river Nile in Egypt, much +farther up the Mediterranean borders than I had ever been. + +The crocodile did not live, so I was put into its tank, and that was the +"bed" the sailors had made, by filling it with salt water. Shade of my +royal grandfathers! how long I could live in such pinching quarters was +a question. + +I was given plenty of herring--so called--and other kinds of fish to +eat, and "Folks" visited me about every hour of the day. There were +children on the steamer, pretty little dears, that never tired of +talking to me, and between them all, passengers, sailors, and the +children, I learned how Folks talked, and a great many other things +besides. + +One fine, manly little fellow visited me constantly. He was voyaging for +his health, and took much pleasure in sitting beside the tank, book in +hand, yet watching my movements, and once he said something that made me +wish I could talk in the language of Folks. Yet before I tell what it +was, I want to say that there was one thing I did not like at all, but +was not able to let the Folks know it. + +The sailors called me "Dolly!" A great name to give a lord of the sea, a +fellow bearing the title I owned! + +The next morning after my capture, a really fine Jack--sailors are all +"Jack," you know--came rolling toward my tank, and sang out in +sea-breezy fashion: + +"Hulloo, Dolly-me-dear, how do you find yourself to-day?" + +I liked his hearty manner and cheery voice, but, dear me, I was "Dolly" +to every man-Jack on board after that, and to all the others as well. + +So this dear little man once said to me: + +"Oh, Dolly, how I wish you could tell me about things under the sea! I +know if you could only talk my way, you could tell stories by the hour, +and what pleasure it would be to listen." + +"Stories, indeed, my pretty," I thought, and I did wish I could open my +wide mouth and entertain the little fellow with a few sea yarns. And now +that in some way I can make Folks understand me, I only hope that my +young steamer friend, among others, will see and enjoy Lord Dolphin's +story. + +Then the lady-Folks were fine, with their pretty dresses, nice manners, +and soft voices. But I did so like the children! One cute little nymph +of a girl was crazy to get near me, yet nearly scared to pieces if I so +much as looked at her. Oh, she was so fair to see, with her golden hair +flying back in the breeze, eyes blue as the sky, and her sweet, dimpled +face full of smiles! + +She would come running up to the tank with a great show of courage, +crying bravely: "Hi, old Mister Dolly! I'se goin' a-put your great eye +out!" But when the eye half-looked at her, off she would scud, and all I +could see was a mass of flying yellow hair, a whisking of snowy skirts, +and my little nymph was gone. + +[Illustration: "ONE CUTE LITTLE NYMPH OF A GIRL WAS CRAZY TO GET NEAR +ME"] + +A dozen times a day she would appear, and as long as I remained under +water, she would hover near. There was a railing around the tank, which +was sunk in, lower than the deck, so she could not fall in, nor could I +possibly get out, but as soon as my head began rearing above the water, +scoot! little Amy was missing. + +We had no hard storm while steaming over the bright Mediterranean. But +one day the little man, whose name was Roland, said to wee Amy: + +"Clear day, isn't it?" + +And Amy replied, woman-fashion, "Yes, booful day, but what sood you do +if there comed a big storm, and we all went ricketty, rockerty, and +couldn't stand up single minute? Wouldn't you be 'fraid?" + +"N-o," said Roland, speaking slowly and thoughtfully, "I don't think I +should be much afraid, but I should want to keep quiet and think. What +should you do?" and he smiled. + +"Oh, me would say my prayers, and keep a-sayin' them," said the child, +soberly, then she added, "and up would go my prayers into the sky, and +so I needn't be frightened a bit." + +Now I don't know in the least what "prayers" mean, but I remembered at +once what that other child had done in the storm, and it made me think +that the Friend the other little girl trusted lives up in the sky, and +can hear when Folks tell that they need help. How lovely! Really, Folks +ought to be very thankful for all they know! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND + + +Well, we sailed and we sailed, but it was poor sailing for me, and every +hour I longed to make a monster jump, clear the railing, and splash into +the splendid bed beneath the cooped-up tank. + +But Folks know how to make things strong and secure, and once or twice, +when I tried leaping, it was only to bang my sides against the edges of +the tank, and spatter the deck far and wide, making extra work for the +sailors. + +After a time, we ran through what Jack called "the Strait of Gibraltar," +and were in the great Atlantic Ocean, and one day Jack said to me: + +"Now then, me hearty, we're making a bee-line for New York City, and +it's a big tub they'll be giving you at the fine park, I'm thinking." + +So I knew I was to take the place of the crocodile, and be made a show +of. + +I tried to make the best of things. Folks amused me by standing near +the tank and talking about affairs. The band played delightfully. Salt +water was freshly supplied me every day or two. I learned that my fare +was much greater than any other voyager's on board, that is, it cost +more to carry me. + +But think of a passenger that would have been perfectly thankful to have +been thrown overboard! I was that same fellow. + +After about ten days, which seemed like a year to me, there was great +excitement all around. Such a running and tramping, such a waving of +hats and handkerchiefs. Ah! we were landing. Roland came to my side and +exclaimed: + +"Good-by, Dolly, old boy! I may see you sometime in your new quarters." +Little Amy lisped a hurried, "By, by, Dolly, good Fishy!" and after an +hour or two, all the passengers had left the boat except the man who +owned me and myself. + +Nor was I moved until the next day. Then I was made to swim into a +smaller tank, not much longer than I am, in which I could not have +lived, it seemed to me, a single day. + +[Illustration: "I WAS GIVEN MY FIRST RIDE ON LAND"] + +But I was next boosted, tank and all, on to a great dray, drawn by +creatures called "horses." Sailors joked, drivers laughed, a crowd +peered at me with eyes full of wonder, and I was given my first ride +_on land_, yet in what to me was a mere puddle of water. + +Ah, how new and strange! The jolting and the bouncing, the noise, the +whistles, the voices, rattling of heavy wagons, booming of cars overhead +and along the ground, strange calls and ringing of bells, the whole +mixed racket nearly stunning me, for my hearing is very acute and sharp. +I cannot tell you how distracting it all was to a poor, pent-up fish. I +felt like anything but a "lord" then. + +And what was this unknown matter floating into my squeezed-up basin? +Dust! Something I had never seen before, and--I didn't like it! + +The sea for me, first, last, and forever! + +At the park I must say things were fine, and could they only have been +more natural, I should have had considerable fun. I found that a Dolphin +on land, although kept in a small square pond, was indeed quite a +curiosity, both to young Folks and older ones. + +I imagine that a quantity of coarse salt was thrown every little while +into the larger space now given me, else I could scarcely have lived. +But my keepers were attentive and kind, the young Folks threw me many +kinds of strange food, and "Bless my lights!" as Jack would say, what +kind of things do Folks live on! + +Great quantities of little oblong balls, snapped out of a shell, +different from any kind of shell I had ever seen before, were thrown me +nearly every hour of the day. Oh, yes, they were called "peanuts." +Really, I liked them, only it took about a hundred to get enough to chew +on. + +Then there were white things, making me think of some small shells, as +there were peeps of yellow inside. Ah, I remember again, they were named +"popcorn." I preferred the peanuts. + +I didn't know what to think of "taffy." Jinks! how it stuck to a +fellow's jaws! Bah! the whole lot of stuff called "candy" was too sweet +and sticky. + +Some jolly-looking people that came to the park for what they called a +"picnic," tossed me queer food named "doughnuts," and "ginger-snaps." +Yes, I liked them, too, particularly the snaps. Then there was an +everlasting fruit named "banana" that I liked at first, it was so soft +and slipped down so easily, but I had too much of it, and grew tired of +it. + +I grew tame, would raise my great head close to the strong wire-netting, +and over would come all kinds of what Folks call "treats." Once, +however, a man-Folk threw me part of a small round, dark roll or stick, +such as men-Folks put in their mouths at one end, and send out smoke +from the other end. + +Boo, bumaloo, what stuff! bitter and horrid! Men-Folks must have a queer +taste to enjoy tasting and smoking such black, weedy things. One taste +of a "cigar" was enough for me. + +I was sorry not to see the boy Roland or the little girl Amy again, but +I think they may have gone to some other land-place, and so could not +come to the park. But although I saw so many other pleasant young Folks, +I did not forget them. + +Then, to my sorrow, just as I was getting used to things, although +always in a homesick way, I heard the keepers talking, and learned that +I was to be moved to another great city, where there was to be an +"exposition," or a showing of strange and useful things from many +different lands and seas, really an "exhibition." + +I began growing flabby and thin. My spirits were at ebb-tide, very low. +I felt as if pining to death. Ah, me! I would have given all the pearls +of the ocean and sea, could I have got hold of them, to be back in my +own dear Mediterranean groves. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +HURRAH! + +Then the day came when I was again made to swim into that despised +little tank. It was put on to a dray as before, and I was given my +second ride on land. May it forever be my last! + +The roar of the great city again filled my ears, dust troubled my eyes +whenever I raised my head. I was faint, weary, and wretched. I could +feel that I had grown lighter from loss of flesh, because of the +unnatural life that I was leading. + +How I wished I might escape! That some great and powerful Friend would +help me. But I was only a fish, had only fins and tail to aid me, that I +knew of, and those were at present of but very little use. + +At length the boat was reached. There was some confusion, as they were +"short of hands," which it appears meant they had not as many men at +the dock as were wanted. But the tank was got on board, and men ran for +the railing that was to be put around the edge. + +Their backs were turned for an instant. Oh! Oh! could I give a mighty +lurch, bound over the deck-rail, and be free? No waiting this time! I +slashed upward in a tremendous "heave-to." Whack! I struck the rail, +wriggled quick as lightning over the side, and hurrah and hurrah! I was +swimming the wide, free river! + +Not my own sea. No, there must be first the shortest cut I could find +into the ocean and salt water, then there would be many days of sweet, +wholesome journeying and paddling before home grounds could be reached, +but reached they would be all in good time. + +Folks say that if Madame Puss, that land-creature who does not love the +water overwell, is carried miles from her home in the dark, she will +find the way back again. And I felt sure that, once out into the harbor, +I could strike a bee-line for a far opposite shore, cut through the +narrows at Gibraltar, and enter like a returning monarch on my own proud +domain, the fair blue Mediterranean Sea. Oh, hurrah again! + +I heard a loud and echoing shout as my great body splashed into the +water, caught the sound of rushing feet, and saw heavy ropes with +strange loops at the ends, that were flung overboard in hopes to +entangle me, and bring back their great fancy fish into that tank again. + +Oh, no, Mister Sailorman, and Mister Deckhand. No, no! I had seen and +felt quite enough of being on land, thank you, to last me all the rest +of my life. And as the Dolphin family is very long lived, I hope that +many years of sweet, delicious freedom, and enjoyment of my native +element, are yet before me. + +And if there was a great king of the Dolphins, as there must be a great +Friend of the Folks, that guides our affairs, I would send him a letter +a yard long, full of thanks for my freedom. It may be there is such a +king, but real knowledge of such things is way beyond me. + +I saw strange craft as I boomed along, always giving them a wide berth. +And such fishes! Did you ever see an angel-fish? Don't ever wish to if +you haven't. It ought to be called evil spirit fish. In appearance it is +one of the quaintest, ugliest creatures that swims the sea. Some Folks +call it monk-fish. It is all of four feet long, has fierce, goggly eyes, +and a round, wicked-looking head, that seems nearly separated from the +rest of its thick body by a thin, short neck. Then such a +vicious-looking tail! Oh, you had better keep clear of an angel-fish. + +A toad-fish looked like an enormous, swimming toad. Bless me! I caught +sight of a shark as I came well out into the ocean. He was more than +twenty feet long. Think of that! But they are thirty feet sometimes. His +great, fleshy, powerful tail takes him along as he looks from side to +side for his prey. I saw his pointed nose and his rows of awful teeth, +one over another. + +There are sharks that can bite a man in halves. Once in awhile we see a +shark in our Mediterranean, but they do not abound there. Yet now and +then Mister Diver-man has had to rush for his life to reach the friendly +ladder when the disturbance under water to right and left has warned him +that one of these sea-monsters was approaching. Oh, they are dreadful +creatures, and greedy, too. They will follow vessels for miles and +miles, expecting that cast-off food will be thrown into the sea, as it +often is. Their instinct tells them that food is likely to drop from +vessels, and it does, indeed. + +I also saw a sea-snipe, or trumpet-fish, but, oho, without a tooth! He +made me think of a scorpion that has a poisonous, dangerous tail. + +I came upon a funny sight while still in the Atlantic Ocean. A whole +school of whales went rushing along in a body, and pretty soon I saw +what it meant. Then it was more funny for me than for the poor whales. +Some whalers, men who go out in vessels to catch these enormous fishes +for their flesh, their oil, and their bones, were banging great heavy +pieces of tin of iron against stones, so frightening the whales that +they crowded in a body into a little creek or inlet. + +This was just what the whalers wanted them to do. Because, once in the +narrow place, so many of them could not escape, and it became easy to +capture them. Men-Folks do really know a very great deal. It makes me +afraid of them. + +An urchin-fish would make you laugh. Some call it a sea-hedgehog. It +looks as if covered all over with great thorns, and a baby sea-urchin +looks as if it was all ready to burst, it is so thick and round. + +A sunfish was an odd piece. It had round eyes, and the queer little fins +just back of its neck looked like shoulder-capes. It was so fat it had +to swim with a waddle. + +The herring I so much like for food are to be found in nearly all +waters, and abundant, sweet, and inviting. Famous ramblers they are, +going in great parties of thousands in number, through wide tracts of +ocean and sea. I have found that a great deal of "money," whatever that +may be, is made by Folks out of the herring fisheries, along the +Atlantic seacoast. + +And let me whisper: Do you like sardines? Well, some Folks say that +herring do not live in the Mediterranean Sea, that ancient Folks knew +nothing about them, but that what we know as herring are really +sardines. These are caught in great numbers, pickled in some way, then +soaked in oil, are put in little tin boxes, tightly sealed, and sent all +over the world. + +But let me whisper again, and this makes Lord Dolphin smile; it may make +you laugh. But honestly, they _say_ that immense numbers of little +herring, or alewives, a little fish very much like a herring, are caught +on western shores of the Atlantic, pickled, packed in oil, and sold for +sardines. + +Isn't it all very funny? If I eat sardines and call them herring, and +folks eat herring and call them sardines, why are we not square? But as +I want to be very honest in all I say, it may be that in speaking of the +herring I so much prefer, I ought to say they are found oftenest at the +far western part of the Mediterranean, where the ancient Folk were not +so likely to explore. + +After I had sailed for days, gliding like a streak through the deep, +untroubled water, I came again to the Strait of Gibraltar. + +Oh, with what a thrill of delight I saw this time, in these far happier +days than when last I passed through it, this narrow outlet from ocean +to sea. I went through first in a tank, I returned with the broad ocean +for my glorious bed. + +I know now that the strait was named for the enormous Rock of Gibraltar, +and that it once was called the Strait of Hercules. + +Now "Hercules" is another "myth" you will study about in those old Greek +fables called "mythology." He was one of the gods, and famed for his +tremendous strength. The story goes, that, coming up to a monstrous rock +in the Atlantic Ocean that entirely separated it from the Mediterranean +Sea, Hercules, wishing to pass through from ocean to sea, rent the great +rock into two parts, so making a passage through. And this was how the +narrow outlet came to be called the Strait of Hercules. + +Now, for many years the passage has been called the Strait of Gibraltar. +But the two great rocks at the entrance of the strait are called "The +Pillars of Hercules." + +Well, through the dividing narrows I darted, and was home again! + +And I am thankful to know three great and precious words that Folks have +taught me: Friends! Liberty! Home! Are there any better words than +these? Perhaps so. But I have not learned them. Yet Folks know so much +more than a fish, even a lordly one, can understand, that it is quite +likely they may be acquainted with words having a grander meaning than +these. + +But I, Lord Dolphin, traveller and story-teller, want to repeat, that I +am very, very grateful to any One I ought to thank, that I find myself +among friends again, free, and in my own glorious home, the bright blue +Midland Sea. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lord Dolphin, by Harriet A. Cheever + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11055 *** diff --git a/11055-h/11055-h.htm b/11055-h/11055-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d111bd8 --- /dev/null +++ b/11055-h/11055-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2581 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of + Lord Dolphin, + by Harriet A. Cheever. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11055 ***</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h1>LORD DOLPHIN</h1> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/01.png" height="710" width="450" +alt="'A Great Vessel Was Straining and Tugging. and I Could See Lights'"> +</center> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> +<h2> + LORD DOLPHIN +</h2> + +<center> +<b>BY HARRIET A. CHEEVER </b> +</center> +<br> +<center> +AUTHOR OF +</center> +<center> +"THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TRILL," "MADAME ANGORA," "MOTHER BUNNY," ETC. +</center> +<br><br> +<center> +Illustrated by +</center> +<center> +DIANTHA W. HORNE +</center> +<br><br><br> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_2"><!-- RULE4 2 --></a> +<h2> + LORD DOLPHIN +</h2> + +<center> +1903 +</center> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr> + +<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<pre> +<a href="#CH1">I. LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF</a> +<a href="#CH2">II. UNDER THE WAVES</a> +<a href="#CH3">III. A CORAL GROVE</a> +<a href="#CH4">IV. THE MERMAID'S CAVE</a> +<a href="#CH5">V. MY GARDENS</a> +<a href="#CH6">VI. MY TREASURE GROUNDS</a> +<a href="#CH7">VII. WHAT I SAW ONE DAY</a> +<a href="#CH8">VIII. MY STRANGE ADVENTURE</a> +<a href="#CH9">IX. LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND</a> +<a href="#CH10">X. HURRAH!</a> +</pre> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="ILL"><!-- ILL --></a> +<h2> + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</h2> + +<p>1. <a href="#image-1"> +'A Great Vessel Was Straining and Tugging. and I Could See Lights' +</a></p> +<p>2. <a href="#image-2"> +'My Turn to Show a Wide Mouth Now' +</a></p> +<p>3. <a href="#image-3"> +'White Faces Seemed to Rise and Ride atop of the Foaming Billows' +</a></p> +<p>4. <a href="#image-4"> +'Off Tore the Fishes, Mad With Terror' +</a></p> +<p>5. <a href="#image-5"> +'One Cute Little Nymph of a Girl Was Crazy to Get Near Me' +</a></p> +<p>6. <a href="#image-6"> +'I Was Given My First Ride on Land' +</a></p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_3"><!-- RULE4 3 --></a> +<h2> + LORD DOLPHIN: HIS STORY +</h2> + +<hr> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER I. +</h2> + +<center> +LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF +</center> +<p> +Now who ever heard of a fish's sitting up and telling his own story! +</p> +<p> +Oh, you needn't laugh, you young Folks, perhaps you will find that I can +make out very well, considering. +</p> +<p> +Of course I have been among "Folks," else I could never use your +language or know anything about you and your ways. +</p> +<p> +A message is not received direct from the depths of the sea very often, +and especially from one of the natural natives. And then, there are very +few fishes that ever have an experience like mine, and travel from one +continent to another, going both by sea and by land. +</p> +<p> +You surely will open your eyes pretty widely at that, and wonder how a +fish could go anywhere by land. Have patience and you shall hear all +about it by and by. +</p> +<p> +I was born deep down in the Mediterranean Sea. That long name is no +stranger. You have seen it many a time in your geographies. But could +you tell the meaning of it, I wonder? <i>I</i> can! It means "Midland Sea," +and is so named from being so near the middle of the earth. +</p> +<p> +If the Mediterranean Sea should be pulled up and away, together with the +space it occupies, my! what a hole there would be in the big round +earth! +</p> +<p> +Nowadays, even the little Folks hear a great deal about Europe. Some of +the family have very likely been there. Perhaps even small John or +Elizabeth have themselves crossed the great ocean, sailing on a fine +steamer to the coast of England or Ireland. +</p> +<p> +Oho! if you had fins and could spread them like sails, and cut through +the water like a flash, you would have a very different idea of the word +"distance" from what you have now. +</p> +<p> +I know "Folks" do not think it very nice to talk much about one's self, +but if there is no one else to introduce you, and it is necessary that +those with whom you are talking should know the truth about you, it can +be plainly seen that the only thing to do is to tell the personal story +as modestly and as truthfully as possible. +</p> +<p> +When first I saw the light, deep down in the sea, I was quite a little +fellow, and had a mother that took splendid care of me. She never had +but one child at a time, and that one she watched over and tended with +much affection until it was fully able to take care of itself. +</p> +<p> +My name is Dolphin, and the Dolphin family is a large one. One branch is +of a very peculiar shape, and has a long and pointed nose or beak from +which it is called the "Sea Goose," or the "Goose of the Sea." I belong +to that branch, but as to being a goose, allow me to say I never was one +and never shall be, not really and truly. +</p> +<p> +My head is round, and so large that it forms almost a third of my whole +body. Many Folks travelling by water have seen Dolphins, as once in +awhile we are obliged to toss our heads up out of the water in order to +breathe, as we have lungs. Yet it is not necessary for us to breathe as +Folks do, and we can blow out water in an upward stream from little +holes that are over our eyes. +</p> +<p> +My colors are fine, dark, almost black on my back, gray at the sides, +white and shiny as satin underneath. +</p> +<p> +There are strange things about a Dolphin. One is that when one is about +to die, the colors are very beautiful. In growing faint-tinted where +once dark, new and brilliant shades flash forth that change and glow in +showy tints. In our beak are thirty or forty sharp teeth on each side of +the jaw. Our voices are peculiar. We are said to make a kind of moan, +which you know is not a very cheerful sound. This is strange, as we are +really very lively creatures, and bright and happy in disposition, not +at all moany or sad. +</p> +<p> +Then we have a kind of small tank or reservoir inside the chest and near +the spine which is filled with pure blood. This, you must know, is +separate from the veins, and if we stay very long under water we can +draw from this reserve supply, causing it to circulate through the body. +</p> +<p> +There is a great deal of wisdom in all this that a poor fish cannot +understand, but Folks must know how these strange things come about, and +who makes and guides all creatures everywhere. But a Dolphin cannot take +it in at all. +</p> +<p> +We are a merry, friendly tribe. There probably are no fish that swim the +sea that are fonder of Folks than we Dolphins. And we cannot help +feeling quite proud because of what Folks have appeared to think of us. +And I must explain why I do so grand a thing as to call myself "Lord +Dolphin." +</p> +<p> +To begin with: In long years past, in "ancient times," as they are +called, Folks had an idea that we were able to do them good in some +ways, and so were of special value to them. And certain old coins or +pieces of money had the figure of a Dolphin stamped on them. It also was +on medals, which, you know, are of gold, silver, and copper, and are +given to Folks as a reward for having done a good or a brave deed. +</p> +<p> +The figure of a Dolphin was also sometimes embroidered on ribbon to be +used as a badge, showing that the wearer belonged to a particular +society or order using the Dolphin as an emblem. Or it might be, again, +that the figure showed one to be a member of an ancient or noble family. +</p> +<p> +Then there are strange and attractive stories of "myths," imaginary +forms or persons, like fairies, gods, and goddesses. When you are older +you will study about these ancient, make-believe beings, and the study +will be called myth-ology, telling curious, interesting stories about +the myths. +</p> +<p> +Apollo, one of the so-called deities, was a myth, and said to be the god +of music, medicine, and the fine arts, a great friend of mankind; and a +great favorite I was said to be of Apollo's. +</p> +<p> +Orion, another myth, and a most exquisite player of the lute, so +charmed the Dolphins with his playing, that once being in great trouble +and throwing himself into the sea, a Dolphin bore him on his back to the +shore. +</p> +<p> +Some Folks have called us whales. But we are not whales at all, and are +of an entirely different family. Yet I am a big fellow all of eight feet +long, while some of us are still much longer than that. +</p> +<p> +But the chief cause of pride with the Dolphins is the notice that has +been taken of us, and the honor shown us by the royal family of France. +Why, we formed at one time the chief figure on the coat of arms of the +princes of France. +</p> +<p> +A coat of arms, perhaps you know, is a family crest or medal, having on +it a figure or device which a high-born family adopts as its particular +sign or emblem of nobility. +</p> +<p> +Then the French people once named a province of France for us, calling +it Dauphené, and pronounced Dor-fa-na. +</p> +<p> +But greatest of all the honors shown us, is the fact that the little +men-babies born of the French kings, and heirs to the throne of France, +were called "the Dauphin," taken from our name. +</p> +<p> +Are we not distinguished? And do you wonder that we have a somewhat +exalted idea of ourselves after such honors as these have been heaped +upon us? And do you think, in view of these facts, that I am taking on +too grand a title in announcing myself as "Lord Dolphin"? +</p> +<p> +Dear me, I do hope not! It would be such a pity to make a mistake right +at the outset in telling a story. For truth to tell, I am not a bit +proud, but just a good-natured chap that has decided to spin a sea-yarn +for the amusement, and I hope the instruction, it may be, of young +Folks, being perfectly willing the older Folks should hear it, too, if +they like. And I don't believe the smaller Folks will object to the +title, even if they don't have "lords" in this country. It must be they +are all lords here, all the nice men-Folks. +</p> +<p> +Do you wonder what I live on? Fishes, of course, for we do not have a +very great chance at getting other kinds of food under water. I like +herrings best of all, and feed on them oftener than on any other kind of +fish. +</p> +<p> +There is just one fellow that I cannot endure. That is the flying-fish. +I fight, make war on him, and drive him away every time he comes around. +Oh, but he is the trying creature! Forever flying in your face, getting +in your way, prying into your affairs, a kind of gossip-fish, that I +despise. Why I feel so great a dislike for him I cannot say, it must be +there is something in my nature that sets me against him, but a +flying-fish and a Dolphin cannot live along the same wave. +</p> +<p> +There is another page in my history that must be mentioned. +</p> +<p> +Several hundred years ago our flesh used to be eaten, and what is more, +it was thought to be fine, so that only those who had a great deal of +money could afford to have it on their tables. But nowadays we are never +used for food, but are thought to be coarse, and not nearly as nice as +most other kinds of fish. +</p> +<p> +All right! We are very glad not to be in danger of being devoured. We go +sailing along under the bright surface of the sea, in groups of just +ourselves, and such leaps as we can take! By and by, you will hear of +leaps I have taken which have been the means of my learning a great +deal. +</p> +<p> +Away we scud, passing ships that think they are going pretty fast, but, +O Neptune! our fins and tails take us along at a spanking rate, which +makes the ships seem slow. +</p> +<p> +In one thing we are much like Folks. Don't laugh, please, but we are +very, very fond of music. Sometimes we catch the sound of voices singing +on a vessel, and up we go, leaping fairly into the air to get as near +the sound as possible. +</p> +<p> +And should there be a violin, a guitar, flute, or a cornet—oh, yes, I +know them all!—on a passing vessel, we float alongside just far enough +under water to keep our bodies out of sight, while we take in the +strains in our own peculiar way. For although our ears might be hard to +find, we yet absorb or draw in sound very readily. +</p> +<p> +And now that you know quite a little about the Dolphin family, I will +tell you some things that may interest you about my watery home. For +home, you know, is wherever one lives, whether it be in the air, on the +earth, in the earth, or in the waters under the earth. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER II. +</h2> + +<center> +UNDER THE WAVES +</center> +<p> +Pretty soon I must describe my playground, but first you must learn a +few simple things about the place I love best of all places in the +world, my home in the deep, deep sea. +</p> +<p> +Do you suppose that when the sky is dark and threatening up where you +live, and when the wind is blowing like a hurricane, and the great waves +lash about, acting as if mad, that there is great disturbance far below? +</p> +<p> +Do you suppose that when shipmasters are shouting out orders to the +crew, and trying to keep their vessels from turning topsy-turvy or going +down out of sight, that the fishes are scampering about wild, driven +here and there by the fierce winds, and scared half to death by the fury +of the storm? +</p> +<p> +Do you suppose there is a terrible roar of wind and wave that bangs us +against each other at such times, and makes of the under-sea a raging +bedlam? +</p> +<p> +Oh, by no means! There is nothing of the kind down in what Folks call +"the lower ocean." It is calm and quiet as the surface of a pond on a +pleasant summer day. +</p> +<p> +And yet, if you wonder how I first learned about the lashing and the +thrashing of the waves above our heads when there is a storm, let me +tell about the time when I was a naughty, wilful fish, bound to have my +own way and do just as I pleased. It was when I was quite young, yet +pretty well grown. And this makes me wonder if growing little men-Folks +and women-Folks ever are determined to have their own way, no matter +what the mother may say. +</p> +<p> +I have an idea it is what is called the "smart age," when the young, +whether fish, flesh, or fowl, start up all at once, and think they know +more than—"than all the ancients." I heard that expression used once, +and it seemed somehow to fit in here. +</p> +<p> +Well, I was a young, big fellow, when one day I felt the will strong +within me to take leaps toward the upper sea. Now, I have already said +that my mother took the best and most watchful care of me when I was a +chicken-fish. So when she saw how restless and venturesome I appeared +that day, she tried her best, poor dear, to turn me from my purpose. +</p> +<p> +For she was older and wise, and could tell by certain signs when the +upper currents were seething and boiling. So when I darted upwards with +a strong swirl that cut the waters apart for my passage, she thrust +herself farther ahead, trying to drive me back, and said plainly by her +actions: +</p> +<p> +"Don't go aloft, my son, you will rush into danger; heed the warnings of +your mother and stay where the waters are untroubled and safe." +</p> +<p> +No, I was getting to be a smart man-fish, and must be allowed to go +where I would. +</p> +<p> +Very well, I went. Upward and upward I dove, until, oh, distress! I was +caught by the turmoil and confusion of a great storm. I had gone too far +because of knowing far less than I thought I did. +</p> +<p> +Do you ask why I did not immediately dive downwards again? Alas, I +couldn't! I had raised myself into the storm circle, and big creature +that I was, I had need to learn that there were mighty forces of the sea +that made all my strength as a mere wisp of straw when placed against +them. +</p> +<p> +Do not Folks, I wonder, sometimes find it much easier to get into a hard +place than to get out of it? That was what I found then, being driven +about first this way, then that. I was slammed against a great, roaring +billow that sent me off presently in another direction, merely to be met +by another wave that dashed me against a third one. +</p> +<p> +My instincts, that serve me for mind and brains, taught me that if I +wanted to get down to quiet, restful depths, I must dive head foremost +directly toward the bottom of the sea. +</p> +<p> +Oh, what folly to try! No sooner would I get my great head and long nose +pointed for a swift downward plunge, than a thundering billow would +actually toss me into the air, just as I have seen a spurt of spray toss +a cockle-shell. +</p> +<p> +Oh, but I saw strange sights and heard strange sounds that night! Once +when two waves came together I was not only tossed high in air, but for +several moments I actually rode atop of the rolling foam. +</p> +<p> +It was then that I had my first view of "Folks." What wonderful beings! +My first thought was, could it be some new, amazing kind of fish that +could stand upright? You see, I had up to that time only known creatures +that lay flat, that flapped fins in order to get along, or in order to +try what is called by the long word, lo-co-mo-tion. +</p> +<p> +But here were fine, tall objects that were in every way so different! I +indeed knew at once that they were far above and superior to the little +creatures that flew, to anything that crawled, and to any kind of fish +that swam the seas. +</p> +<p> +A great vessel was straining and tugging, and I could see lights here +and there that showed the water black as night. Sailors' voices rose +high above the surging of water and the tempest's loud cry. There were +queer little holes in the sides of the vessel that I know now are called +"port-holes," and big guns were pointed out through them. +</p> +<p> +A sailor with a rope about his waist tried to walk across the deck, but +was thrown along the wet and slippery boards like a ball tossed from the +hands of a child. In a queer set of outside garments that I have learned +are called "oil-skins," the crew, officers, and captain went to and fro, +trying their best to keep things straight. +</p> +<p> +In some way I knew that the brave captain was not afraid. A little pale +he was, surely, but his voice was firm as he called through a strange +fixture called the ship's trumpet. And his hands did not shake as he +tried to peer through a great glass across the rolling sea. +</p> +<p> +The sailor with the rope about him was again and again tossed and +tumbled about as he tried to make the passage across the deck, but as +often as he tried his mates would have to pull on the rope and right +him. And I still think, as I did that night, that a ship's crew, +sailors, officers, and captain, are brave, brave folk,—the bravest +Folks I know. +</p> +<p> +As the storm went crashing on, I kept thrusting myself downward, in +hopes to plunge lower than the storm circle. No use. I was upborne every +time, and after many attempts knew it would be best to simply float as I +must. +</p> +<p> +I had drifted far from the sailing-vessel, when, as I floated high on +the crest of a wave, I looked upon a pleasure-craft of some kind, riding +high upon the breakers. Men who were not regular sailors looked with +startled eyes on the terrible sea. They were calm and quiet, but from +the way they questioned the staunch skipper, and watched the men forming +the crew, I knew they carried anxious hearts, and longed to see the +waters grow calmer. +</p> +<p> +A hard fling sent me afloat again, and I had a peep inside the cabin, +where ladies with white faces and clasped hands were whispering of the +storm, and listening with fear in their eyes to the wild clamor of the +winds. +</p> +<p> +Then there was a peep beyond that showed me something that to this day +I cannot understand, but I tell it because my instincts assure me that +boy-Folks and girl-Folks in good homes with good parents will know just +what it meant. And although I am only Lord Dolphin, a great fish of the +sea, there was something about it that has comforted me, and I think +always will comfort me as long as I live. +</p> +<p> +I saw a little girl, oh, a fair little creature, with fluffy, golden +hair shading her babyish face, who was on her knees beside a white and +gilded berth. +</p> +<p> +A berth, you know, is a small bed built right against the wall in any +kind of a vessel, be it sailer, steamship, or yacht. I think this was +some rich man's yacht. +</p> +<p> +The fair little lady, then, was on her knees beside her gilded berth, +her elbows resting on the pretty white bed, eyes closed, tiny white +hands clasped, and lips moving. She surely was talking to some One, but +Who I cannot even guess. +</p> +<p> +But this much was certain: that child was not afraid. Not in the least! +She must have wakened from sleep, else she would not have been alone. +And hearing the wild storm, she had slipped from her little bed, put +herself on her knees, and raised her dear, fearless little hands and +heart—where? +</p> +<p> +Oh, surely that child had a Friend somewhere whom she trusted. How +beautiful! +</p> +<p> +They say that fishes and some other creatures are cold of blood and have +but little feeling. But I have gone far enough to think out one thing, +and it all comes of that child on her knees: if a dear mite of a woman +like that had a great, powerful Friend she could talk to in the dark, +and feel safe with in such a tempest, just as true as I am a living +Dolphin, I believe it must be some One strong enough and good enough to +care for all kinds of creatures. I do, indeed! Do you wonder it comforts +me? +</p> +<p> +It was strange that after awhile the moon came struggling through the +black and angry sky. She rode high, did Luna,—that is the moon's +name,—and was at the full, and wherever the clouds parted for a moment, +a broad streak of luminous light shone down on great mountains of water, +leaping up and up, as if eager to crush everything before them. +</p> +<p> +The wind did not soon go down, it could not; neither could I with my +utmost strength dive downwards through the piled-up, violent waves that +still rushed and roared, bounded and snapped with wild force. +</p> +<p> +Luna had sailed toward the west, and a gleam of daylight was streaking +the sky at the east, before the churning, choppy waters began leaping +less high, and once again I was tossed crest-high, where I was glad to +catch sight of a sailing-vessel that was steadying herself in the +distance, and a white yacht was skipping like a frightened but rescued +bird afar off. +</p> +<p> +I do not know whether I had been terribly afraid or not. I was not +afraid of the sea itself, it was what Folks call my "native element," +the place in which I was born, was natural to me, and I was native to +it. +</p> +<p> +But yes, I think I was afraid that the coming together of those fierce +waves might crush me as they met in their terrible strength. The noise +of such a meeting could be heard miles away. Ships have been in great +peril from them, and fish have often had the life beaten out of them in +such a sea. +</p> +<p> +Yet, naughty fellow that I was, no great harm came to me. As soon as I +saw my chance, head down I plunged, out of the harsh circle of the +storm. +</p> +<p> +Oh, the peacefulness and the restfulness of those quiet lower regions! +For far below, all strife of angry billow and raging storm was unknown, +and glad enough was I to reach my mother's side. +</p> +<p> +It may have been that my own plump sides were puffed out with the effort +I had made, and the storm's rough tossing, and my absence and the +direction I had taken all told my mother that something had gone hard +with me, and that I was glad to again be near her in the silent depths +of home. She floated with me close alongside, guided me to a restful +grove midst shimmering weeds that made a soft and silken couch, where in +the sweet stillness, lulled by the lap of gentle ripples against weed, +or shell, or bending sea-flowers, I glided off to dreamless slumber. +</p> +<p> +And the last thing I saw before slipping off to quiet sleep was a little +bright-haired child on her knees, eyes closed, hands upraised and +folded: a child that was not afraid. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER III. +</h2> + +<center> +A CORAL GROVE +</center> +<p> +Perhaps you did not know that the fishes in the sea, both large and +small, were playful creatures. Well, they are. They can frisk, frolic, +play "hide-and-seek", "catch", and race and romp at a great rate. +</p> +<p> +Now I want to tell something of our playground, and if you are surprised +at the beauty with which we are surrounded, why should you be? There +surely are lovely things on the earth for all kinds of upper-air +creatures, such as Folks, animals, birds, and insects, to enjoy. +</p> +<p> +Listen, then, while I tell about the "caverns of ocean". A cavern, you +know, is a hollow or den, and old ocean holds many a cavern or den full +of interest and beauty. But I will take you first to a kind of grove. +</p> +<p> +My home, where I spend most of my time, is in deep water. But not in the +deepest, oh, no! That is said to be two thousand fathoms down. Think of +it! More than two miles below the surface. There probably is but very +little life at that depth. But when I visit some groves, or the region +of a reef, I must first sail and sail until I reach water that is not +deep at all. +</p> +<p> +Do you think you have ever seen coral, real coral? Yes, doubtless you +have, and you may have seen it in various forms. But I feel sure you +have never seen coral to know very much about it, as you have never been +to the bottom of the sea. +</p> +<p> +Ah, here are all kinds of graceful shapes shooting up from the depths, +so singular and varied in form, that one would wonder what they are +meant to stand for. Look at these trees, perfect little trees in coral, +eight or ten feet high, with branches spreading out from the trunk. On +the branches are delicate sprays of fairylike net or lace-work, all in +white, but of various patterns. Should you get near enough, you would +see that these branches, some of which seem to bear flowers in shapes +like pinks or lilies, are dented or pitted as if tiny teeth had eaten +into them. This may be partly the work of worms. +</p> +<p> +Now, this is simply a large piece of white coral, but all around and +about are fanciful shapes, nearly as large as the one described. Here, +too, are what might be taken for thick bushes or shrubs, branching out +with sprays of fretwork, white and spotless. Then there are smaller +growths like low plants, and curiously colored, some pink, some red, +others a yellowish white. These, too, appear to bear flowers, asters, +carnations, or roses. +</p> +<p> +And for miles at a time we can rove and sport in a beautiful coral +grove. +</p> +<p> +Think of a little house, if you can, made entirely of ivory, with here +and there bright tints mingling with the white. For coral looks like +ivory when its natural roughness is smoothed and polished. Think of +swimming through little rooms, under arches, over lovely walks, through +make-believe doors, slipping past upright altars of red and white coral, +resting on spreading seats, or under outreaching canopies, or stopping +to look at another outreaching shape like the arms of candelabra or +candlestick holders. Sliding over footstools, and under culverts, all +soft and gleaming in color. Then again there are curves and passages in +which we can hide and stay hidden as long as we please. Is it not +beautiful? And all so clean and clear! +</p> +<p> +Yet there is need to take heed and be careful. These stretching shapes +and branches, these candle-holders and bushy twigs have sharp, hard +points, and bouncing against them too suddenly might severely wound a +fish, or it might slip into a crevice where it would be pricking work to +get out. +</p> +<p> +Now, what is coral. Is it alive? Does it live and breathe? It is one of +the curious, mysterious things of the ocean about which Folks have +written and studied, and the wise ones say that coral is neither insect +nor fish, but a kind of sea-animal, that lives in both deep and shallow +waters. In the beginning it appears to be a tiny sea-creature, like a +small, fleshy bag, with a mouth at one end, while with the other it +clings to some object, almost always a rock. +</p> +<p> +These little creatures are said to have the power to sting if they are +provoked. From these tiny frames there comes a hard, stony substance +that spreads and spreads as we have seen, while the part that was alive +becomes a mere dead shell. +</p> +<p> +This is the best explanation I can give about coral and the tiny +creatures from which it takes its start, and that seem so exceedingly +small to me to be called "sea-animals." But think of the wonderful +formations that grow from the bodies of these mites of creatures! Why, +there are whole reefs or chains of rocky borders along some coasts made +entirely of coral. Some of them are known as barrier reefs. +</p> +<p> +Bless you! it may be hard to believe, but a barrier reef twelve hundred +miles long runs along the coast of Australia between the Pacific and +Indian Oceans! Then there are coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, whole +platforms of solid coral which shut in portions of quiet water in some +places. +</p> +<p> +The little corals themselves do not work in deep water, nor above the +surface of the sea. But the bony substance spreads and spreads, up, +down, and across the sea. And as many shell-fish eat into coral, great +quantities of fine coral-sand sink to the bottom, making a nice white +carpet for the fishes to glide over. Folks do not take coral from the +sea at any time but during the months you call April, May, and June. +</p> +<p> +Now remember these things when you go into houses and see fine large +pieces of coral on the mantel, or it may be standing against the wall. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps you have a coral necklace of little, uneven, red, stick-like +beads. The jeweller-man can tell you how very hard it is to drill the +holes in these beads; it is like drilling through hard rock. But if you +happen to have a necklace, brooch, or bracelet of pink coral, my! you +had better take good care of it, for it must have cost a little bag of +gold. Pink coral is rare, beautiful, and very expensive. The genuine +pink-tinted is said to have sold for so great a price as five hundred +dollars for a single ounce. +</p> +<p> +Heigho! I want neither necklace, brooch, nor bracelet. For where, pray, +would Lord Dolphin wear a breastpin, or how would he look with a string +of coral beads about his neck, or a bracelet pinched about his tail? +</p> +<p> +You needn't laugh so hard. I have seen Folks who hung too much jewelry +about themselves and seemed to think it becoming. A few pieces of nice +jewelry may be tasteful and ornamental, but when too much is worn, I +have a fancy that it might make a coral mite or an oyster want to laugh. +</p> +<p> +Pretty soon I must explain why an oyster might have a right to be amused +at seeing too many gems crowded on at once. But first you must hear +something funny about coral, something so silly, too, that even a fish +is almost ashamed to tell of it; but this was true long in the past, +Folks are much wiser now. +</p> +<p> +Long years ago there were Folks who believed that wearing a "charm," +which often was a little piece of coral, perhaps made into an ornament, +would charm away harm or danger, and keep them safe from "the evil eye." +</p> +<p> +"Dear sakes!" you cry, "what was 'the evil eye'?" +</p> +<p> +Well, it is almost sad to think that any one could be so foolish, yet +when Folks know but little, they will catch up strange notions and +listen to silly signs without an atom of truth or common sense in them. +So some ignorant Folks once believed that a witch, or some witchy Folk +with an evil eye, might look upon them and cause them harm, or make them +meet some danger. +</p> +<p> +And they pretended that hanging a bit of coral somewhere about them +would keep off a look from "the evil eye," and that making children wear +a piece of it would charm away sickness and act as a medicine. Now did +you ever! +</p> +<p> +Chinese Folks and Hindoos have made most exquisite and wonderful +carvings of the coral of the Mediterranean, and there is such a thing as +black coral, also known as brain coral, but it is too brittle to be +worked upon. +</p> +<p> +Ah, who would not be a Dolphin, merry and free, whisking through deep, +still water, coasting over coral sands, and diving and sporting through +coral groves! +</p> +<p> +Nor is this the only rare and curious place through which I rove, +chasing my comrades, wandering about in search of caverns below, and +sweet music above, while forever making war on my enemy, the +flying-fish. +</p> +<p> +You see, these fish can cut through the water, reach the surface, then +really fly with finny wings across short spaces right in the air. They +think themselves smart, and are great braggarts. +</p> +<p> +One morning a flying-fish was bent on worrying me, swishing its flapping +fins directly before my face, then darting upward, sending the spray +cross-wise into my eyes. I made a snap or two at the vexing creature, +but as I missed him he became bolder, and stopped a race I was having +with one of my mates. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly I made a great leap after the flier, but up he went, up, up, +and I after him, sharp! Further up he went, and I pursued. He laughed, +fish-fashion, his big mouth sprawling way across his face as he sped +above the surface. +</p> +<p> +I poked my nose into upper air and saw which way he was going, and to my +joy he made a dip just as up went my beak again, and I had him, squeezed +securely between my jaws. +</p> +<p> +Of all the wriggling and squirming, the begging and the pleading that +ever you saw or heard! But I did not want to eat him, nor did I mean to +kill him, either. But I did mean to teach old Mister Flier a lesson, +showing it was neither wise nor in good taste to torment a fish-fellow +that was ever so much larger and stronger than himself. +</p> +<p> +So down, down I went, until I reached a cell in a coral grove, and in I +popped his Majesty, and sat down and grinned at him. My turn to show a +wide mouth now. +</p> +<p> +Did you know a fish could tremble? That fellow trembled and shook as if +he had a fishy fit when he found himself in that den, with a great +Dolphin's eye on him. Perhaps it was indeed "an evil eye" to him. He +could have slipped out and away would I only move and give him room. Oh, +no, not just yet! I lashed the water with my strong tail, and "made up +eyes" at him, I am afraid, in a truly evil way. +</p> +<p> +Then I began to feel that it was neither kind nor noble to carry my +punishment too far, so off I slowly sailed, and out from his tight +corner slid my slippery prisoner. And he tormented me no more. I did not +mean to harm him, and do not think I did, but he slipped sideways +through the water ever after that. +</p> +<p> +It must be that he jammed a fin in his haste to escape from his cubby, +but I see him often, and always with that sideways gait. I hope he is +cured forever of making of himself a pester and a plague. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/02.png" height="686" width="450" +alt="'My Turn to Show a Wide Mouth Now'"> +</center> + +<p> +I was glad to see that he still could fly, and that swift as an arrow he +could dart over and under, through and across, the thousand winding ways +of our coral groves. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IV. +</h2> + +<center> +THE MERMAID'S CAVE +</center> +<p> +As I have never been in a truly house, I cannot know of all the kinds of +carpets or coverings that Folks use on the floors. +</p> +<p> +Yet I have had peeps at very lovely carpets, as in a ship's cabin, and I +know that velvet and fine, beautiful straw, as well as other kinds of +nice carpets, must be used in what Folks call their houses. +</p> +<p> +Oh, but never has a floor of wood been covered with such wonderful +material, or covering of such marvellous workmanship, as that over which +I have roamed, and on which I have rested all my life. Yet, except in +deep waters, I will not pretend that my carpets are always very soft. +</p> +<p> +In the deeper waters that I love, there are miles and miles of soft, +blue mud, that to a Dolphin is far more luxurious and enjoyable than the +thickest of velvet or the most closely, evenly plaited straw could be. +But when, after a long, delightful journey, I visit the regions of +shallower waters, ah, the beautiful things I could bring you, were there +a tunnel, a car, or an air-shaft to convey me safely to land! +</p> +<p> +What are these shining, many-colored things I see lying about, with all +kinds of fishes sailing around and playing with, as a child plays with +blocks or cards? +</p> +<p> +Shells! all kinds and shapes, many of them rough outside but smooth and +glossy as glass inside. +</p> +<p> +What is a shell? You know the word "marine," called ma-<i>reen</i>, means +belonging to the sea, so shells are marine curiosities, for they are +always found in or near the sea. And they are really the hard, outer +covering of some sea-animal or other. +</p> +<p> +But how can I describe shells such as I have looked upon a thousand +times? You have seen some kinds, I know, but they would not even pass as +samples of the splendid shapes and tints that lie scattered around my +floor. A few Folks have made a study of the different kinds of shells +that have floated or been carried to the shore, and have been able to +tell the class of sea-animals to which they have belonged. They once +were the coats or outside garment of a swimmer or a clinger of the sea. +</p> +<p> +One day a mother-Dolphin missed her boy-Dolphin, and as he was quite a +young fellow, she felt much distressed. Away she sailed, peering amidst +the many objects covering the sea-floor. +</p> +<p> +Do you suppose it is an easy matter to find a fish that has got lost? I +caught the flying-fish because he never got far away from me. But here +was a young rascal that had gone off roaming, almost before he knew how +to feed himself, and search as she might, nowhere could his mother find +the rogue of a runaway. +</p> +<p> +If you will believe it, he was gone a week, then back he came, his eyes +as big as saucers. You see, I know how to say some things that Folks do; +by and by you will find out how I learned them. +</p> +<p> +Master Dolphy had a story to tell. He made us understand in +fish-language that he had found a wonderful, wonderful cave, where a +party of mermaids had collected a lot of shells, oh, enough to fill a +great house! +</p> +<p> +Now, I can't tell a thing as to the truth about mermaids. But "they +say," that is, Folks and fishes say, that they are strange, fascinating +creatures, with the head, shoulders, arms, and breast of a beautiful +woman, and part of the body and the tail of a fish. Sometimes they are +called sea-nymphs; others call them sirens. +</p> +<p> +Have you ever lived by the sea? And on stormy evenings, when rain was +rattling on the window-pane, and the wind went screaming around the +house, have you ever imagined there were queer calls, and have you seen +strange shapes thrown up by the waves? +</p> +<p> +Or have you ever heard an old sailor or an old fisherman tell stories of +the deep? If not, you cannot take in the kind of spell or enchantment +that lingers about the sea after listening to these sounds or hearing +these stories. They are all mixed up with the "myth" stories you heard +of a little way back. +</p> +<p> +But these stories have been told ever since the world was young. And the +mermaids are said to be daughters of the river-god that have lived ever +in the deep and sounding ocean. +</p> +<p> +And they were strange and weird—that is, wild, unnatural, and witching. +They would appear in both calm and stormy weather. +</p> +<p> +Sirens were sometimes thought to be different from mermaids, but we +fishes know them to be one and the same thing—that is, if they exist at +all. It used to be said that a mermaid murmured, but that a siren sang, +with dangerous sweetness. Both murmur and both sing, one as much as the +other. +</p> +<p> +They will all at once be seen poised on perilous rocks, their long and +splendid hair floating back in the wild wind, their eyes shining like +stars, their faces bright and glorious, their white arms and gleaming +shoulders rising like snow from midst the dark and stormy waves. +</p> +<p> +Ah! the singing, the beckoning, and the coaxing of a mermaid! Let me +tell you how they work. +</p> +<p> +They have a sly, four-legged creature on land, all dressed in fur, and +sporting a fine, thick tail, and they say that when this Madame Puss +wants to catch a bird that is wheeling in the air, she will manage to +first catch its eye. Then the little creature will not be able to look +away, but will wheel and circle, and circle and wheel, all the time +coming nearer, until, if no one frightens Madame Puss away, she will +keep her yellow eye fixed on the eye that she has caught, until the bird +flies close to her and is caught. +</p> +<p> +This is called "charming a bird." And the truth must be that poor +birdie, after catching sight of that great, shining eye, does not see +Madame Puss herself, but only the bright eye, and being unable to look +away, flies nearer and nearer the strange, glittering light, until +Madame Puss makes a spring, and all is over. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/03.png" height="721" width="450" +alt="'White Faces Seemed to Rise and Ride atop of the Foaming Billows'"> +</center> + +<p> +Just so, it is said, the sailors cannot look away from the fair, +wonderful creatures tossing their rich hair, beckoning wildly, singing +and singing with a sweetness that is not natural or earthly, until, what +with the beauty and luring, and voices of honey, the poor sailormen are +close against the rocks, and do not seem to know that they are charmed +or harmed when the waters close softly over them. +</p> +<p> +I do not know whether I have ever seen a mermaid or not. But when I took +that dangerous voyage up into the storm circle, I saw strange shapes +that I never saw before, and heard sounds that were new to my ear. Two +or three times I thought I saw streaming hair, and white faces seemed to +rise and ride atop of the foaming billows. +</p> +<p> +But when one is very much excited, will not imagination produce almost +any kind of an object that happens to come into the mind? Ah, I am +afraid so. Still, there are both Folks and fishes that believe in the +mermaids and their songs, and what am I that I should dare dispute them! +</p> +<p> +Yet—let me whisper—I have heard that Folks who do not know so very +much, will tell about "goblins," "spooks," and "catch-ums," and whenever +there is talk about the mermaids and the sirens, I think of those Folks +who believe in creatures that "never were." +</p> +<p> +But it would not do to talk in my watery home as if I had no belief in +mermaids, because, you see, as most fishes have never been with Folks, +and learned a thing or two from them, they do not know any better than +to believe in these sweet, dangerous creatures. +</p> +<p> +So, now, here came Dolphy, with flapping fins, wild eye, and his story +of a mermaid's cave. Then a party was made up to go and see the rare and +amazing place. +</p> +<p> +Well, it did look as if some creatures of surprising taste and skill had +brought together a collection of shells such as are never seen above the +surface of the sea, and formed, indeed, a cave fit for a mermaid's home. +</p> +<p> +I know little about time, but it must have been days and nights I stayed +in the enchanting place, roving hither and thither, rubbing my fins +against the soft, smooth shells, and half wondering how they really came +to be grouped together in such shining rows. +</p> +<p> +And the colors! And the shapes! Some were well-opened on the inside, and +looked as if entirely covered with pink enamel. They were of clear, +ivory white, pinkish white, pale rose, deep rose, pale yellow, or straw +color, orange yellow, blue and green mixed in glossy sheen, shades of +pink running into rich reds, purples and grayish pinks, making the fair, +sweet mother-o'-pearl. +</p> +<p> +Some were cup-shaped, having deep hollows. Should you hold your ear +fairly shut into one of these, it is said you would hear always as often +as you so held it, the roaring of the ocean. And a roaring sound you +would hear, in very truth. Yet, let me tell you! Take a common china +cup, shut your ear into it, and the same roaring will be heard. +</p> +<p> +Is that old ocean? No, it is simply the sound of your own blood coursing +through your veins. +</p> +<p> +A wide-awake Frenchman once wrote that, could you look within your own +body and see the engines pumping, the valves opening and shutting, the +pipes working, and the whole machinery in action, it would surprise and +perhaps scare you into the bargain. +</p> +<p> +We have got a little off the track, but it is well to know the facts +about these things. Now we will return to the shells. +</p> +<p> +Look at that splendid one shaped like a bowl, but with pink lips rolled +back, through which can be seen changing tints of pink and white. Here +is one that is oblong, lined with rose enamel, but having strange horns +pointing out at one side. +</p> +<p> +See that beauty, wide open and shaped like a saucer. Dear me, hold it a +little toward the light, and there gleams every color of the rainbow on +the polished surface. Here is another, striped with hair-like lines in +red, yellow, blue, and brown. There is a fan, wide open, beautifully +polished; it has no handle, but its coloring is in nearly all tints, and +changeable in the light. What a lovely thing is this heart-shaped shell, +with a line along the centre, and beautifully blending colors on either +side. There are many of these scattered around. +</p> +<p> +Now, how can I describe these singular yet perfect shapes banked up +against rocks that are completely hidden on the inside of the cave? +</p> +<p> +Over there is a funny, snarly head, with fine shreds of hair laced over +a smooth shell. Ah, what gleams of colored light shoot through the hair! +Here is a bird's nest on a bar, lying side of a wide fan, shaped like a +palm leaf; in the plaitings are curled all colors, pink, blue, yellow, +and green. +</p> +<p> +This shell is like a foot with eighteen or twenty toes, smooth, shining, +and of flesh-like tints. This is like a bat's wing, with lines and webs +finely tinted. Look at that enamelled jug with a pipe at the top. Near +by is a perfect leaf on a small branch. +</p> +<p> +Do see this worm, ringed around with dark purple stripes. Isn't it +queer? In that corner is a trumpet, splendidly colored inside. That +shape over there must be a fool's cap, one mass of sheeny tints inside. +Here are beautifully rounded little bowls, all scalloped around the top; +ah, see them glisten and change shades as the light strikes them! +</p> +<p> +See the beetle-bugs, with horns sticking out in every direction. And if +here isn't a perfect shape of a lady's slipper! The lady should wear it +inside out, so all could see its exquisite mother-o'-pearl. +</p> +<p> +Here are shells exactly like the feathery wing of a bird, and how birdie +would enjoy snuggling his soft head against the exquisite smoothness of +these shells! +</p> +<p> +Is that a large carrot split lengthwise? It looks like it, but no carrot +split along its length ever brought to light such rainbows as glint +along these. Those shells looking so much like rattles would amuse a lot +of babies if they could play in the mermaid's cave. They would try to +catch the fine colors, and might cry when they changed and changed, and +then appeared to dance away. +</p> +<p> +Those serpents, some half uncoiled, some out straight, will not bite. +Those flashes are not from dangerous eyes, but are only fine shell +tints. +</p> +<p> +Here are a lot of squat jars for holding small ornaments. They are +ornaments themselves. Are they not? And what queer combs with three +shining rows of teeth, each tooth a point of color. +</p> +<p> +Really, I might as well stop. There would be no use in trying to +describe a third of these shapes, and as to coloring, with all I have +said, you can have but a faint idea of the soft, brilliant, ever +changing hues and gleams in the mermaid's cave. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER V. +</h2> + +<center> +MY GARDENS +</center> +<p> +Long as I have talked of shells, I must say a word or two more about +shells that are used as stones. +</p> +<p> +When I was on land a little while, I noticed in front of a few houses, +walks, that I knew at a glance were made from clam-shells. So I knew +that Folks must have machines for pounding up shells. Such a beautiful, +clean, white walk as they make! +</p> +<p> +Then, before some fine-looking houses were great conch-shells, oblong +and twisted in shape, but pink and smooth inside. Many of them were +placed around lovely fountains, or urns of flowers. +</p> +<p> +But I want to tell of one very beautiful and costly kind of ornament +that is made from some conch-shells, pronounced "konk." +</p> +<p> +Romans and Greeks, but especially the Greeks, used to cut "cameos" from +the onyx-stone. And men skilled in cutting fine stones and jewels have +cut most exquisite cameos, or faces, from the kind of conch-shell that +has two layers, one dark, the other light. +</p> +<p> +The word "cameo" is said to mean one stone upon another. The "queen +conch" is a splendid shell, with two distinct layers, one white, the +other pink. Out of the white layer is carved perhaps the face of a +woman, with a crown of flowers on her head, or it may be the head of a +knight, with a helmet on. +</p> +<p> +But think of the fineness of the tools that must be used, the tiny files +and chisels in carving the lovely, delicate shells. The shell cameos +with the pink lower stone and white upper figure, are most expensive of +all; other shells have brown or black lower layers, and these are not as +choice. +</p> +<p> +But when you see your grandma or great-auntie wearing a lovely +old-fashioned breastpin, bound around with gold, and holding a pink +stone, shining like crystal, with a white carved head or other figure +standing out from the lower stone, you may know it is a very valuable +ornament, and was probably made from one of the finest shells found in +the sea. Imitations are made from porcelain, but very likely grandma's +or great-auntie's will be the real conch-shell. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps you did not know that there are fair and beautiful gardens in +my watery home. You may have picked up sprays or bunches of seaweed when +running along the beach, and some were perhaps quite pretty, while +others had turned brown and looked much like leather. +</p> +<p> +Would you like to come with Lord Dolphin and take a swim through an +ocean garden? You would doubtless see such a sight as you had never +dreamed could be seen down in the blue water. +</p> +<p> +All right, I'll turn into a fairy godfather, clap you on to my back, +give you the lungs of a mermaid, to prevent your choking in the water, +and then, come on! Or, rather, I should say, come down! +</p> +<p> +"Why, why! A fairylike scene indeed!" you cry. +</p> +<p> +Now you have not taken on "the evil eye" in coming to the bottom of the +sea, but you have taken a "fish eye." Folks usually hate fishy eyes, but +no matter, you couldn't see the first thing down here with your own +natural peepers, so be thankful that for a time you can see with eyes +like mine. +</p> +<p> +Now, this is not a coral grove, it is a garden of flowers, and when you +exclaim again, "Oh, but I had no idea of this!" I should have to reply, +"Of course you hadn't; no more had I of the strange and beautiful +things on the land, until I had to live there a little while." +</p> +<p> +Folks call these flowers, such as they have seen of them, weeds, +seaweeds. And I suppose they have to come under that name, as they are +not planted from seeds, but are a wild growth. Ah, but some great +Planter or Gardener surely put all these wonderful shapes and splendid +tints in the soft earth of a sea-garden. And it is all so blithe and +gay! +</p> +<p> +Here are nearly all the shapes in bushes and almost trees that you have +in your garden on land. And as to flowers, there are leaves, spires, +cups, bells, tassels, very much such as you see in your garden at home. +</p> +<p> +See these beautiful crimson leaves, as large as the top of a small +table, and cut in such fine, even scallops around the edges, and here is +one with a great pad of yellow right on the crimson. My! My! is it not +colored richly? +</p> +<p> +Here are leaves shooting out like rafts, thick, like the leaves of a +rubber-tree, but larger and of a deep red. You might take a sail on one +of them. And here is a bush, shooting upright from its muddy bed, all +covered with pink sprays, on which are pink blossoms. Doesn't it make +you think of a syringa bush? Only these flowers are pink. +</p> +<p> +Next comes this plant with a large olive green stem covered thickly +with branches, bearing flowers resembling pink roses. Were this plant +taken to the church some Sunday morning and placed on the pulpit-stand, +you may believe that after the service Folks would go crowding about the +altar, eager to find out its name and whence it came. +</p> +<p> +What a clucking of surprise there would be when it was told that not +from any hothouse whatever, but from the depths of the ocean came the +full, lovely sea-roses. +</p> +<p> +Are these sprays of pink coral? No, they are sea-rods and branches. If +you pinch the thick stems, water will ooze out, for they are partly +hollow, like the pond-lily stem. +</p> +<p> +I do not wonder you look with questioning surprise at that next plant. +It is like a mass of purple bushes, a very sweet growth rather hard to +describe. All through the delicate branches are what look like small +dark berries, seen through a mist of pinkish, hairy spires. +</p> +<p> +Don't start. These merry fishes darting through the next clump of bushes +have only come to smell of the carnation pinks the bushes bear. Are they +not strangely like your garden carnations? +</p> +<p> +See the fishes nip at those singular pink flowers with a thick fringe +hanging from the edges. It is a shame to spoil them, but some fishes +always seem to think that graceful fringe droops down on purpose for +them to peck at. +</p> +<p> +Now if the baby were only here, you could seat him on these broad, flat +leaves, with delicate spires all along the edges, and all of so deep a +crimson they surely would attract any child. +</p> +<p> +What a queer flower! like the backbone of a fish with all the little +bones at the side standing out stiff and pointed, and all in pinks and +purples. +</p> +<p> +Right in the midst of another plot of thick, flat leaves rises a mass of +pink sea-lilies, and they are beautiful; but do examine the next bed of +leaves. Are they not curious? A thick, hollow-looking stem goes through +the middle of them, and on one side of the stem they are a deep pink, on +the other side, yellow. +</p> +<p> +Here are flowers shaped like horns and trumpets. What a forest of pinks, +greens, and yellows! And here are the greens. Such greens as you have +never seen before. +</p> +<p> +Now suppose you were going to have a party. What decorations you could +have if only the ocean blooms would keep fresh for you to use. There +would be masses of fine furze that would be perfectly beautiful to crowd +over the pictures; silky threads that, placed on creeping green plants, +would look lovely carried along the table; yellow flowers in the midst +of masses of fine sea-mosses, and sea-ferns would make your little mates +wonder where the fresh, strange things grew. +</p> +<p> +And there could he yards and yards of ribbons. Ribbons? Yes, long, long +sprays of yellowish green sea-ribbon, four or five inches wide, going +down to narrower ones not more than an inch in width. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps you would like some sea-thistles. Here they are, in thick +bunches, fine and hairy, in faint, fair shades of green. And what can +this be that looks so much like a sponge? Ah, it is a tuft of moss with +green spires shooting up in the middle. +</p> +<p> +Take care! Here are bunches of cactus with prickly leaves. Look out! +don't catch your toe in those sea-ferns. Even that sweet green +maiden-hair fern might pin down your foot so firmly that it would take a +fish's sharp tooth to set you free. +</p> +<p> +You may ask, why are not these beautifully colored and curiously shaped +things brought on shore and sold, as they might be, for much money? And +why are they not at least put where Folks can see, learn about them, and +admire them? +</p> +<p> +But wait a moment; what would be the effect if any one took a bunch of +your garden roses, pinks, or lilies, put them under water, and kept them +there? They would very soon be a drooping, shapeless mass. They are +formed for a different element, and could not nourish under water, +especially salt water. +</p> +<p> +Just so ocean-flowers, and sea-tints can only live in their own element, +which is not air, but water. And the faces on our water-pansies—for we +have them—would soon fade in what to them would be lifeless air, just +as the garden pansies would lose their bright faces in the salt sea. +</p> +<p> +Great quantities of seaweeds float ashore and are often dried and used +as fuel, or perhaps are put around garden plants to make them grow. +</p> +<p> +But nothing that grows on the land, or in the water, can exchange places +one with the other and keep alive. It is all very curious, and more than +I can understand. Yet every creature and every plant is fitted to the +place it grows in, and is natural to it. The food, the flowers, and the +land for the use of Folks, and the food, the plants, and the water for +the use of fishes, are just what the nature of each requires. What +wisdom! +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VI. +</h2> + +<center> +MY TREASURE GROUNDS +</center> +<p> +Are you tired? No? Well, that is no great wonder. It is ever so much +easier to glide through the water on the broad back of a great fish than +to ride horseback, or in a car. +</p> +<p> +My sails or fins flap quietly to and fro, the water parts readily to +make us a path, no rough winds blow away your hat, there is no danger +way down here that a boat will bang against us, and roll you off into a +cavern or a cave. +</p> +<p> +Now I am taking you into deeper water, which still is not so very deep, +but I want to show you some other strange things in the world I live in. +</p> +<p> +Here we go sailing in and out of rocks, but do not be alarmed, I know +them all. Perhaps you wonder what it is that we keep pressing against, +something soft and smooth that sends extra sprays of water over us. What +can it be? +</p> +<p> +Well, now, put on your thinking-cap. What does your mother wash the +baby with? What does Michael wash the carriage with? And what is that +object in the wire holder in the bath-tub? +</p> +<p> +"Ah, a sponge!" you exclaim. Yes, and here is where they grow. "What, +sponges grow?" you ask. Certainly. And just as with the coral, it took +Folks a long time to find out whether sponges were plants, shrubs, or +insects. +</p> +<p> +Now it is decided that the sponge is an animal growth. And the same as +with coral, the tiny creature that it starts from dies, and out from the +skeleton, or frame, branches the sponge that sometimes grows very large, +and sometimes is of a kind that remains small. One may be as big as a +mop, others no larger than an egg. +</p> +<p> +Down in the blue Mediterranean Sea are found the best sponges that grow. +They are called "horny sponges," and grow in great masses, fine, yet +tough and durable. A sponge from the Mediterranean, called the "Turkey +sponge," will cost three times as much as a coarser, more brittle one +from other waters. They are porous, or full of little holes and hollows. +</p> +<p> +We fishes like to bang against the sponges and feel the sudden spray +dash over us. Water we have all around and about us, but a shower-bath +is not as common a thing. +</p> +<p> +When you buy a sponge, it is round, flat, or cone-shaped. Now see what +they look like under water. Here is a little tree, you say. Oh, no, it +is only a mass of sponges piled together and branching out as they grow. +</p> +<p> +Here are fans, arches, tiny caves, and many different shapes forming a +sponge-garden. Queer, isn't it? Oh, lots of things are queer until you +learn about them. +</p> +<p> +Would you like to see how I wash myself? Don't laugh so loud, you might +scare the fishes. I know very well that it seems to you as if I was +washing or bathing all the time, but there! Some kind of a water-bug has +plumped right down onto my head, and left a lot of sticky sand on it, +that the water does not wash away. +</p> +<p> +Now don't be alarmed. I won't let you be swept from my back. I am only +going to wash my head. See me swim directly under this mass of sponge, +swaying out from a rock. There will be no bits of sand clinging to me +after I have been sponged a few moments. +</p> +<p> +Here is a sponge that looks as if almost as large as your sun when it +rises out of the water, but if you squeeze that fellow dry—the sponge, +not the sun—it will not begin to be the size it is now. You could press +it into a bowl of moderate size when dry, but then take it to the pump +or the faucet, fill it with water, and my, what a balloon! +</p> +<p> +Sponges were once called "worm-nests," and were thought to be a mere +kind of seaweed. But looked at under the sea, it would be known at once +that they are neither nest nor weed. +</p> +<p> +Once in awhile sponges seem to spring directly up from the mud without +anything to cling to, but generally they are fastened to rocks or large +stones, and spread out and out from them. Here they look so much like a +kind of herb, that Folks who make a study of things in nature, and are +called naturalists, for a long time took them to be a kind of sea-plant, +and for years it was a puzzle as to just what they were. +</p> +<p> +All are full of pores or layers of small cells, and some are quite +pretty from having a fringe about the cells like eyelashes. There are +others curiously shaped, looking like coral sprays, and here and there +they look like helmets; then there is another form that seems to have +long fingers running out, and is called "mermaid's gloves." +</p> +<p> +The form called "Venus flower-basket," large and basket-shaped, might +answer for a mermaid's work-basket, and hold her thimble, scissors, and +thread. You had better take care! A mermaid may be near this very +moment, and hear you laughing. And remember, she could spin you round +from one end of the sea to another, then leave you high and dry on a big +rock in the middle of the ocean. +</p> +<p> +Now, on what do sponges feed? Dear sakes, as if they fed on anything! +Yet they do. Although they branch and bunch out in the forms described, +yet they do not roam about, but only float or swim out as far as they +can stretch themselves while firmly fastened to a rock. Here they take +in specks or particles that float through the water; they pass through +the open pores of the body, and answer for food. The water constantly +passing through them serves to refresh and keep them round and healthy. +</p> +<p> +Here we come to a perfect thicket of sponges, and see the fishes playing +"tag" all around and about them. There! that sly little fish, like a +salt water pickerel, nipped the tail of that great clumsy +porpoise—porpus—so hard, I heard the big fish grunt. The teeth of a +pickerel are fearfully long and sharp. +</p> +<p> +Oh! Oh! What is that most beautiful thing we see shining with a faint, +sweet glow, down at the bottom of the sea? It is in plain sight, nestled +in the heart of a conch-shell. It is round, has a milk-like murkiness, +yet pinky, changing lights like tiny stars, that glint and gleam as you +look upon it. +</p> +<p> +Now believe me! Of all the treasures of the sea I have told you of or +shown you, this is far and away the most precious. +</p> +<p> +It is a pearl. Only once in a great while will so perfect and so +valuable a gem be found near my deep water home. And although we are not +so very far east, yet it would be called an "Orient," or an "Eastern +pearl." +</p> +<p> +Perhaps it has floated in its polished pink bed from a far eastern sea. +I told you a little while ago that I must explain what an oyster had to +do with Folks that sported too many jewels, and why it might be amused +at the sight. +</p> +<p> +Did you know that inside of an oyster-shell grew the lovely, costly +pearls that Folks will give a great deal of money for? Why, Queen +Victoria of England had a Scotch pearl that cost two hundred dollars. +Queens and princes, rich Folks, jewellers, and dealers in precious +stones, will give great sums of money for necklaces, brooches, or rings +that have in them the precious Oriental pearls. +</p> +<p> +I had to listen very hard to find out what I did about pearls. But I +found that they have been known, talked of, and written about, almost +ever since the beginning of the world. +</p> +<p> +Oyster-beds are generally much nearer the shore than most kinds of +shells. It is said to be when an oyster gets restless or uneasy that a +strange substance enters the edge of the shell, and after a time a pearl +is formed. And while many pearls are found in oyster-shells, they also +are often found fastened to the pink bosom of a conch-shell. +</p> +<p> +There are black pearls of much value, but though rare, they are never +half as beautiful as a white or pink one. Some pink pearls are very +lovely, and when large-sized, are also very expensive. +</p> +<p> +The pearl we see lying here is a splendid white one, and my! the money +it would bring! Pick up that shell, carry it with you to a jeweller, and +see the dollars the fair round gem will bring to your purse. You could +buy yourself beautiful clothes, or a pony, or could have with it a fine +party, flowers, favors, treat and all. +</p> +<p> +What? Don't dare to? Oh, me, me, what a little coward! I can't pick it +up very well. If I took it in my mouth, down my throat it would go. If I +tried to catch it up with a fin, over into the water it would bounce. +</p> +<p> +Never mind. Look at the sweetly beautiful conch-shell, with the +splendid gem resting so softly on its pink, polished side. And let me +tell you what I think. +</p> +<p> +The opinion of a fish, even a great lordly one, may not be worth much, +but to me that exquisitely lovely stone, reposing on that exquisitely +lovely shell, is a far more beautiful thing to look upon than the jewel +ever could be when fitted into the costliest setting of gold. +</p> +<p> +Now it is just as it was made, and I think that Whoever formed and set +that pearl knew more about real beauty and fitness, and what is simple, +natural, and very beautiful, than all the Folks and jewellers in the +world. +</p> +<p> +Look at that white splendor. Don't you agree with me? +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VII. +</h2> + +<center> +WHAT I SAW ONE DAY +</center> +<p> +Now I do not know how brave an English lord may be or how much it may +take to scare him, but I, Lord Dolphin, inhabitant of the great +Mediterranean Sea, was scared nearly out of my wits and skin by the +sight I saw one day. +</p> +<p> +But there is this to comfort me: if I was a coward at the sight, there +were plenty of other creatures in the sea to keep me company. Mercy on +us! Such a scuttling and rushing, such a whisking and a whacking, flying +and plunging, I for one never saw before. There was actually a chorus of +flapping fins and thumping tails as we raced for our lives. +</p> +<p> +Was it a steam-engine or a monster boiler that was coming right down +from upper regions into our midst? Or, had some new sea-monster fallen +from the skies to drive us from our hunting and fishing grounds? +</p> +<p> +We knew something about sea-lions, the huge creature that you may have +seen at the Zoo, or in a tank at the park, lifting itself like an +enormous sea-horse, and roaring like the animal whose name it bears. But +a sea-lion would not have cut through the water from way above. It would +have come steering along like a great black vessel, puffing and blowing, +while all the time it would have been a creature of the sea, and we +should have known it, and not have been so terrified. +</p> +<p> +Or, had a whale come bearing down from upper waters, as they sometimes +do, there would have been a disturbance first, made by the spouting and +slashing that our instinct at once would have told us came from some +monster of the deep. +</p> +<p> +Or, again, had it been the hulk of a vessel that could not stand some +violent storm, oh, yes, we should have known what that was, too. But +now, off tore the fishes, mad with terror, big fishes, little fishes, +fat fellows, lean fellows, pleasant ones, and grumblers. +</p> +<p> +I laughed, yes, with all my fright I had to laugh at such a funny sight. +I was behind what Folks call "whole schools of fishes," only they speak +of "a school of fish," meaning many of one kind, but the madcap crowd I +looked upon was made up of almost every size and sort. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/04.png" height="697" width="450" +alt="'Off Tore the Fishes, Mad With Terror'"> +</center> + +<p> +I saw a porpoise—porpus—my enormous cousin, all of fifteen feet +long, crowd in midst a multitude of swift little swimmers, as if he +meant to make them help in spinning him through the water faster than he +could go by himself. Then on the back of another Dolphin, I saw a crowd +of little fishes that seemed so stiff with fear, they had been knowing +enough to cling to the back of the great fish, making a boat of him to +bear them to a place of safety. +</p> +<p> +Paddling sideways, I caught a glimpse of the flying-fish that had been +my tormentor. All at once I stopped short. +</p> +<p> +Now they say that some Folks are very curious. I do not mean that they +are odd or amusing to look at. But they have curiosity, and want to peer +and pry into things. It is not at all nice to want to find out all about +other Folks' affairs. It belongs to a poor, mean nature to want to do +that. But to want to inquire into matters for the sake of getting true +knowledge is right and worthy even for a fish. +</p> +<p> +And suddenly I had determined to see just what that amazing creature +could be. If it caught and swallowed me alive, it might, but—it would +take a pretty big swallow to make away with Lord Dolphin. I confess to +going to work very much like a sneak. But it was quite easy, seeing all +the other fishes had made off and left me a clear field, to hide midst a +bed of tall sea-bushes. +</p> +<p> +So, very gently back I paddled, with motion slow and noiseless, to the +region where the monster had come down. +</p> +<p> +How shall I describe it? In the first place, I had never seen such a +shape before. The time when I was borne aloft on high waves, and looked +into a ship's cabin, I saw forms something like unto this one in some +respects, but, dear sakes, not with such hideous parts! But now, to name +at once and describe afterwards,— +</p> +<p> +It was a <i>diver</i>! +</p> +<p> +The diver belongs to the Folks family, but, bless us, his rig! Imagine, +if you can, a black object, with a great bunchy machine of a head, and +for the rest, a mass of fixtures, such as would puzzle a far more stupid +creature than a Dolphin to make out. +</p> +<p> +I have seen a diver many times since then, and am now able to tell a +little about the fantastic-looking being. Of course, there is very much +more to be known, but if you remember what I say, it will give you some +idea of a diver's outfit that may linger in your mind, to be added to as +you grow older. +</p> +<p> +First, then, close to his skin are warm woollen garments, sometimes two +or even three sets of them. If the weather is cold, he may have on two +or three pairs of warm stockings. How would you like being bundled up in +that way? Yet that is only the beginning. +</p> +<p> +Close to his head is a woollen cap coming down over his ears. Thick +shoulder-pads keep his outside suit from grazing or hurting, and it may +be that other pads are about his body. He next goes into an outside suit +of India rubber, covered both inside and outside with a tanned twill +which is water-proof, and the rubber itself has been treated in a way to +make it very hard and lasting. There is a double collar about the neck, +of tough, sheet rubber, and one is to draw well up about the neck. +</p> +<p> +He must have assistance in getting into these rigid clothes, for it is +hard working the arms into the stiff sleeves, and forcing the hands +through cuffs which are made to expand or let out as they are drawn on, +then close tight in some odd way with rubber rings and joints at the +wrist, making the sleeves perfectly air tight. +</p> +<p> +Great care is taken in dressing the diver. Everything must fit +perfectly, every screw must be properly wound in, every strap and buckle +made fast, or the poor diver may be in great danger. His breastplate of +copper is fastened on with metal clasps or bolts. A fixture at his back +steadies the weights both back and front, weighing forty pounds each. +These weights, it must be, are in some way supported by the ropes with +which they let him down. +</p> +<p> +Such boots! Stout leather, with soles of lead, securely strapped on, and +weighing at least twenty pounds each. A band fitted about his waist is +kept in place by strong braces. +</p> +<p> +Then his helmet! Tinned copper, and full of screws, pipes, and hooks. On +the face part were three openings as in a lantern, in which were screwed +plate-glasses, or bull's-eyes. These, of course, were to see through, +and stood out like little telescopes, or half-tumblers, with brass +frames around them called "guards" which protect the glass, that is +thick and strong. +</p> +<p> +There were also queer valves, or tubes, in the helmet for letting out +bad air, yet so contrived that no water could get in. A hook was on +either side, through which ropes must pass. +</p> +<p> +The diver can breathe while under water by means of an air-pipe, and by +pulling on a life-line, can make his wants known to those above. +</p> +<p> +When the diver is all ready to descend, a man at the pump begins +supplying him with air, and down he goes, first on an iron ladder at +the vessel's side, then on long ladders of rope, with heavy weights at +the ends. +</p> +<p> +I peeped from midst great weed-pads, and saw the diver as he reached the +bottom of the sea. Do you wonder I trembled, yet was amused at what I +saw? In his hands this time—for I saw him more than once after +this—was a great hook and a light bag with a wide-open mouth. And what +do you think? He had come to get sponges from the blue sea. Of course +not at very great depth. +</p> +<p> +He knew his work. With the long hook, sponge after sponge was torn from +its clung-to home on the slippery rocks, and quickly popped into the +bag. He always moved backwards. If anything stopped him, rock, wreck, or +floating weeds, he could turn slowly and carefully around, and see what +it was. But should he meet an object suddenly at the fore, it might +break even his shielded glass. Then he must immediately give the signal +to be raised aloft. +</p> +<p> +Divers must begin by going down only a little way under the water, as it +takes great skill and long practice to be able to go safely into deep +water. A diver has about him a coil of line connected with the ladder, +which he unwinds as he moves away; but by winding it about him again, +he can find his way back to the ladder. +</p> +<p> +If two divers go down at the same time, I notice they take great care +not to let their air-lines or life-lines cross each other's, and so get +entangled. It might be a very serious affair to get them mixed. +</p> +<p> +I see that divers may go down from either a barge, a sailing vessel, or +a large yacht, but there must be a deck that can hold the necessary +machines and rigging to help them in their work. By casting down heavy +pieces of lead, the sailor-Folk can "sound," or tell the distance to the +bottom of the sea. The diver's line must always be twice the length of +the distance he goes down. +</p> +<p> +I did not find this all out at once. Oh, by no means, but by not running +away I gradually learned a great deal. And I was so glad I saw the queer +performance! The frightened fishes were not quick to come back to their +playground, where such a looking object had come swinging down, and when +he came again the next day, and the next, I had the place to myself, and +watched while he pretty well cleared that region of its fine, valuable +sponges. +</p> +<p> +The next time I saw a diver it was in deeper water. I was sporting to +and fro at another time when there was just such a panic among the +fishes as I had seen before, and just such a scramble. +</p> +<p> +Down, down came the fearsome looking object, while I mixed myself in +with a mass of sea-flowers, and keeping perfectly still, was not +noticed. The diver's dress was much the same as the other's had been; he +went backwards in the same cautious way, but instead of a long-handled +hook, he carried only a queer bag that was let down to him by ropes. +</p> +<p> +The bag was deep, and had a frame along the top, with a scraper fastened +to it. And what do you think again? He began scraping in all the +conch-shells he could see that had what looked like a dab of mud or a +milky spot on the side. +</p> +<p> +He was after pearls! +</p> +<p> +Divers often fish for pearls midst oyster-beds, and in more shallow +water, but there are nets or dredgers also used for that purpose. But I +at once knew that very valuable pearls must often be found in +conch-shells and deep-sea oyster-shells, as the diver scraped in all of +both that he could find. +</p> +<p> +Remember! All kinds of shell-fish are called "mollusca," have white +blood, and breathe not only in the water, but also in the air. +</p> +<p> +And will you believe it? I have found out considerable about the signals +that a diver gives to the man at the pump on deck. +</p> +<p> +If he wants to be pulled up, be gives the life-line four sharp pulls. +If he wants more air, he gives one pull at the air-pipe. Two pulls on +the life-line, and two pulls on the air-pipe, given quickly one after +the other, mean that he is in trouble, and wants the help of another +diver. One pull on the life-line means "all right." +</p> +<p> +There are many other signals I could not find out the meaning of, so can +say nothing about. My instincts, as well as what I have noticed, tell me +that a diver must be in the best of health, must be rather thin, have +excellent eyesight, sound lungs, steady nerves, and a strong heart. The +work is not easy. I wonder if work that pays well is often easy? I do +not believe it is. +</p> +<p> +There used to be a strange machine in use called the "diving-bell." A +great cast-iron cage, shaped something like a bell, let down by ropes, +and so heavy that its own weight would sink it. Divers could sit inside, +and fresh air was supplied by a force-pump. Bull's-eyes of heavy glass +let in the light. +</p> +<p> +This must have frightened the fishes quite as much as did the diver, +although it was not as frightful in appearance. +</p> +<p> +After a time, when the diver came down, some of my mates, seeing I was +not a bit afraid if only hidden from sight myself, stayed near me under +the broad seaweeds, but most of them fled far and wide at his approach. +</p> +<p> +The divers themselves are not free from danger. Great sea-serpents or +sharks sometimes make it hot for them, but they are watchful, spry, and +being "Folks," with power to think and plan, can generally look out for +themselves and their safety. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII. +</h2> + +<center> +MY STRANGE ADVENTURE +</center> +<p> +Now come the most exciting and in some respects the hardest events of my +life thus far. +</p> +<p> +I have told of my great love of music, and have also said that the +Dolphin family is a very sociable one. Yes, and I could grow fond of +Folks, I know, if only they could live in the sea, or I could live on +the land. But as neither of these things can be, I must be content with +liking them at a distance. +</p> +<p> +One afternoon I was full of sport, and felt lively as a cricket. Oh, +yes, I know the small, frisky fellow you call a cricket, with his little +old black legs, and have heard him sing. So on this calm and lovely +afternoon I began leaping upward instead of forward, and all at once I +heard sounds of music floating across the upper sea. You can believe I +floundered alongside, and oh, such sweetness as trilled out into the +clear air! +</p> +<p> +The truth was, a great steamer was crossing the Mediterranean with a +pleasure party on board. What I heard was the music of a brass band. My! +My! Isn't it enough to delight the heart of any creature that has ears +to hear? It actually would make a fish dance. +</p> +<p> +Now I didn't know it, but I made such plunges upward that my great dark +body could be seen in the clear water, and some sailors began "laying" +for me, half suspecting what might happen. +</p> +<p> +Well-a-well, I got so full of music, joy, and friskiness, that all at +once I gave a tremendous jump, and flounced right on to the deck of the +fine steamer. Had I not been so utterly surprised, I should immediately +have flounced back again to my ocean bed "quick shot," as I afterward +heard a sailor say. But dear, deary me! I hesitated just a moment too +long, and when I made a flop intending to bounce away, lo! a stout rope +was about my body, and another about my tail, and I was a prisoner! +</p> +<p> +Then the Folks all gathered about me, and the sailors went laughing off, +saying something about "making the fellow's bed." +</p> +<p> +Oh, it was all very strange and unnatural. And in a few moments I began +panting for breath. Just as you would gasp, if by accident you popped +over from a boat into the water. Only you would gasp for want of air, +and I was gasping from too much of it. +</p> +<p> +But it was not long before I was taken to a side of the vessel, and +after straining and tugging with my great weight, I was indeed bounced +into water, but when I tried to swim, oh, misery! what kind of a place +was I in? +</p> +<p> +Only a tank, some twenty feet long by fifteen feet wide, filled with sea +water! +</p> +<p> +Truth was, there was a man-Folk on board who had caught, and wanted to +carry to a great park in some far-distant land, a crocodile. Boo! a +great sea-reptile that I wonder any one should want to have around, even +as a curiosity. It had been taken from the river Nile in Egypt, much +farther up the Mediterranean borders than I had ever been. +</p> +<p> +The crocodile did not live, so I was put into its tank, and that was the +"bed" the sailors had made, by filling it with salt water. Shade of my +royal grandfathers! how long I could live in such pinching quarters was +a question. +</p> +<p> +I was given plenty of herring—so called—and other kinds of fish to +eat, and "Folks" visited me about every hour of the day. There were +children on the steamer, pretty little dears, that never tired of +talking to me, and between them all, passengers, sailors, and the +children, I learned how Folks talked, and a great many other things +besides. +</p> +<p> +One fine, manly little fellow visited me constantly. He was voyaging for +his health, and took much pleasure in sitting beside the tank, book in +hand, yet watching my movements, and once he said something that made me +wish I could talk in the language of Folks. Yet before I tell what it +was, I want to say that there was one thing I did not like at all, but +was not able to let the Folks know it. +</p> +<p> +The sailors called me "Dolly!" A great name to give a lord of the sea, a +fellow bearing the title I owned! +</p> +<p> +The next morning after my capture, a really fine Jack—sailors are all +"Jack," you know—came rolling toward my tank, and sang out in +sea-breezy fashion: +</p> +<p> +"Hulloo, Dolly-me-dear, how do you find yourself to-day?" +</p> +<p> +I liked his hearty manner and cheery voice, but, dear me, I was "Dolly" +to every man-Jack on board after that, and to all the others as well. +</p> +<p> +So this dear little man once said to me: +</p> +<p> +"Oh, Dolly, how I wish you could tell me about things under the sea! I +know if you could only talk my way, you could tell stories by the hour, +and what pleasure it would be to listen." +</p> +<p> +"Stories, indeed, my pretty," I thought, and I did wish I could open my +wide mouth and entertain the little fellow with a few sea yarns. And now +that in some way I can make Folks understand me, I only hope that my +young steamer friend, among others, will see and enjoy Lord Dolphin's +story. +</p> +<p> +Then the lady-Folks were fine, with their pretty dresses, nice manners, +and soft voices. But I did so like the children! One cute little nymph +of a girl was crazy to get near me, yet nearly scared to pieces if I so +much as looked at her. Oh, she was so fair to see, with her golden hair +flying back in the breeze, eyes blue as the sky, and her sweet, dimpled +face full of smiles! +</p> +<p> +She would come running up to the tank with a great show of courage, +crying bravely: "Hi, old Mister Dolly! I'se goin' a-put your great eye +out!" But when the eye half-looked at her, off she would scud, and all I +could see was a mass of flying yellow hair, a whisking of snowy skirts, +and my little nymph was gone. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/05.png" height="710" width="450" +alt="'One Cute Little Nymph of a Girl Was Crazy to Get Near Me'"> +</center> + +<p> +A dozen times a day she would appear, and as long as I remained under +water, she would hover near. There was a railing around the tank, which +was sunk in, lower than the deck, so she could not fall in, nor could I +possibly get out, but as soon as my head began rearing above the water, +scoot! little Amy was missing. +</p> +<p> +We had no hard storm while steaming over the bright Mediterranean. But +one day the little man, whose name was Roland, said to wee Amy: +</p> +<p> +"Clear day, isn't it?" +</p> +<p> +And Amy replied, woman-fashion, "Yes, booful day, but what sood you do +if there comed a big storm, and we all went ricketty, rockerty, and +couldn't stand up single minute? Wouldn't you be 'fraid?" +</p> +<p> +"N-o," said Roland, speaking slowly and thoughtfully, "I don't think I +should be much afraid, but I should want to keep quiet and think. What +should you do?" and he smiled. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, me would say my prayers, and keep a-sayin' them," said the child, +soberly, then she added, "and up would go my prayers into the sky, and +so I needn't be frightened a bit." +</p> +<p> +Now I don't know in the least what "prayers" mean, but I remembered at +once what that other child had done in the storm, and it made me think +that the Friend the other little girl trusted lives up in the sky, and +can hear when Folks tell that they need help. How lovely! Really, Folks +ought to be very thankful for all they know! +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IX. +</h2> + +<center> +LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND +</center> +<p> +Well, we sailed and we sailed, but it was poor sailing for me, and every +hour I longed to make a monster jump, clear the railing, and splash into +the splendid bed beneath the cooped-up tank. +</p> +<p> +But Folks know how to make things strong and secure, and once or twice, +when I tried leaping, it was only to bang my sides against the edges of +the tank, and spatter the deck far and wide, making extra work for the +sailors. +</p> +<p> +After a time, we ran through what Jack called "the Strait of Gibraltar," +and were in the great Atlantic Ocean, and one day Jack said to me: +</p> +<p> +"Now then, me hearty, we're making a bee-line for New York City, and +it's a big tub they'll be giving you at the fine park, I'm thinking." +</p> +<p> +So I knew I was to take the place of the crocodile, and be made a show +of. +</p> +<p> +I tried to make the best of things. Folks amused me by standing near +the tank and talking about affairs. The band played delightfully. Salt +water was freshly supplied me every day or two. I learned that my fare +was much greater than any other voyager's on board, that is, it cost +more to carry me. +</p> +<p> +But think of a passenger that would have been perfectly thankful to have +been thrown overboard! I was that same fellow. +</p> +<p> +After about ten days, which seemed like a year to me, there was great +excitement all around. Such a running and tramping, such a waving of +hats and handkerchiefs. Ah! we were landing. Roland came to my side and +exclaimed: +</p> +<p> +"Good-by, Dolly, old boy! I may see you sometime in your new quarters." +Little Amy lisped a hurried, "By, by, Dolly, good Fishy!" and after an +hour or two, all the passengers had left the boat except the man who +owned me and myself. +</p> +<p> +Nor was I moved until the next day. Then I was made to swim into a +smaller tank, not much longer than I am, in which I could not have +lived, it seemed to me, a single day. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-6"><!-- Image 6 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/06.png" height="698" width="450" +alt="'I Was Given My First Ride on Land'"> +</center> + +<p> +But I was next boosted, tank and all, on to a great dray, drawn by +creatures called "horses." Sailors joked, drivers laughed, a crowd +peered at me with eyes full of wonder, and I was given my first ride +<i>on land</i>, yet in what to me was a mere puddle of water. +</p> +<p> +Ah, how new and strange! The jolting and the bouncing, the noise, the +whistles, the voices, rattling of heavy wagons, booming of cars overhead +and along the ground, strange calls and ringing of bells, the whole +mixed racket nearly stunning me, for my hearing is very acute and sharp. +I cannot tell you how distracting it all was to a poor, pent-up fish. I +felt like anything but a "lord" then. +</p> +<p> +And what was this unknown matter floating into my squeezed-up basin? +Dust! Something I had never seen before, and—I didn't like it! +</p> +<p> +The sea for me, first, last, and forever! +</p> +<p> +At the park I must say things were fine, and could they only have been +more natural, I should have had considerable fun. I found that a Dolphin +on land, although kept in a small square pond, was indeed quite a +curiosity, both to young Folks and older ones. +</p> +<p> +I imagine that a quantity of coarse salt was thrown every little while +into the larger space now given me, else I could scarcely have lived. +But my keepers were attentive and kind, the young Folks threw me many +kinds of strange food, and "Bless my lights!" as Jack would say, what +kind of things do Folks live on! +</p> +<p> +Great quantities of little oblong balls, snapped out of a shell, +different from any kind of shell I had ever seen before, were thrown me +nearly every hour of the day. Oh, yes, they were called "peanuts." +Really, I liked them, only it took about a hundred to get enough to chew +on. +</p> +<p> +Then there were white things, making me think of some small shells, as +there were peeps of yellow inside. Ah, I remember again, they were named +"popcorn." I preferred the peanuts. +</p> +<p> +I didn't know what to think of "taffy." Jinks! how it stuck to a +fellow's jaws! Bah! the whole lot of stuff called "candy" was too sweet +and sticky. +</p> +<p> +Some jolly-looking people that came to the park for what they called a +"picnic," tossed me queer food named "doughnuts," and "ginger-snaps." +Yes, I liked them, too, particularly the snaps. Then there was an +everlasting fruit named "banana" that I liked at first, it was so soft +and slipped down so easily, but I had too much of it, and grew tired of +it. +</p> +<p> +I grew tame, would raise my great head close to the strong wire-netting, +and over would come all kinds of what Folks call "treats." Once, +however, a man-Folk threw me part of a small round, dark roll or stick, +such as men-Folks put in their mouths at one end, and send out smoke +from the other end. +</p> +<p> +Boo, bumaloo, what stuff! bitter and horrid! Men-Folks must have a queer +taste to enjoy tasting and smoking such black, weedy things. One taste +of a "cigar" was enough for me. +</p> +<p> +I was sorry not to see the boy Roland or the little girl Amy again, but +I think they may have gone to some other land-place, and so could not +come to the park. But although I saw so many other pleasant young Folks, +I did not forget them. +</p> +<p> +Then, to my sorrow, just as I was getting used to things, although +always in a homesick way, I heard the keepers talking, and learned that +I was to be moved to another great city, where there was to be an +"exposition," or a showing of strange and useful things from many +different lands and seas, really an "exhibition." +</p> +<p> +I began growing flabby and thin. My spirits were at ebb-tide, very low. +I felt as if pining to death. Ah, me! I would have given all the pearls +of the ocean and sea, could I have got hold of them, to be back in my +own dear Mediterranean groves. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER X. +</h2> + +<center> +HURRAH! +</center> +<p> +Then the day came when I was again made to swim into that despised +little tank. It was put on to a dray as before, and I was given my +second ride on land. May it forever be my last! +</p> +<p> +The roar of the great city again filled my ears, dust troubled my eyes +whenever I raised my head. I was faint, weary, and wretched. I could +feel that I had grown lighter from loss of flesh, because of the +unnatural life that I was leading. +</p> +<p> +How I wished I might escape! That some great and powerful Friend would +help me. But I was only a fish, had only fins and tail to aid me, that I +knew of, and those were at present of but very little use. +</p> +<p> +At length the boat was reached. There was some confusion, as they were +"short of hands," which it appears meant they had not as many men at +the dock as were wanted. But the tank was got on board, and men ran for +the railing that was to be put around the edge. +</p> +<p> +Their backs were turned for an instant. Oh! Oh! could I give a mighty +lurch, bound over the deck-rail, and be free? No waiting this time! I +slashed upward in a tremendous "heave-to." Whack! I struck the rail, +wriggled quick as lightning over the side, and hurrah and hurrah! I was +swimming the wide, free river! +</p> +<p> +Not my own sea. No, there must be first the shortest cut I could find +into the ocean and salt water, then there would be many days of sweet, +wholesome journeying and paddling before home grounds could be reached, +but reached they would be all in good time. +</p> +<p> +Folks say that if Madame Puss, that land-creature who does not love the +water overwell, is carried miles from her home in the dark, she will +find the way back again. And I felt sure that, once out into the harbor, +I could strike a bee-line for a far opposite shore, cut through the +narrows at Gibraltar, and enter like a returning monarch on my own proud +domain, the fair blue Mediterranean Sea. Oh, hurrah again! +</p> +<p> +I heard a loud and echoing shout as my great body splashed into the +water, caught the sound of rushing feet, and saw heavy ropes with +strange loops at the ends, that were flung overboard in hopes to +entangle me, and bring back their great fancy fish into that tank again. +</p> +<p> +Oh, no, Mister Sailorman, and Mister Deckhand. No, no! I had seen and +felt quite enough of being on land, thank you, to last me all the rest +of my life. And as the Dolphin family is very long lived, I hope that +many years of sweet, delicious freedom, and enjoyment of my native +element, are yet before me. +</p> +<p> +And if there was a great king of the Dolphins, as there must be a great +Friend of the Folks, that guides our affairs, I would send him a letter +a yard long, full of thanks for my freedom. It may be there is such a +king, but real knowledge of such things is way beyond me. +</p> +<p> +I saw strange craft as I boomed along, always giving them a wide berth. +And such fishes! Did you ever see an angel-fish? Don't ever wish to if +you haven't. It ought to be called evil spirit fish. In appearance it is +one of the quaintest, ugliest creatures that swims the sea. Some Folks +call it monk-fish. It is all of four feet long, has fierce, goggly eyes, +and a round, wicked-looking head, that seems nearly separated from the +rest of its thick body by a thin, short neck. Then such a +vicious-looking tail! Oh, you had better keep clear of an angel-fish. +</p> +<p> +A toad-fish looked like an enormous, swimming toad. Bless me! I caught +sight of a shark as I came well out into the ocean. He was more than +twenty feet long. Think of that! But they are thirty feet sometimes. His +great, fleshy, powerful tail takes him along as he looks from side to +side for his prey. I saw his pointed nose and his rows of awful teeth, +one over another. +</p> +<p> +There are sharks that can bite a man in halves. Once in awhile we see a +shark in our Mediterranean, but they do not abound there. Yet now and +then Mister Diver-man has had to rush for his life to reach the friendly +ladder when the disturbance under water to right and left has warned him +that one of these sea-monsters was approaching. Oh, they are dreadful +creatures, and greedy, too. They will follow vessels for miles and +miles, expecting that cast-off food will be thrown into the sea, as it +often is. Their instinct tells them that food is likely to drop from +vessels, and it does, indeed. +</p> +<p> +I also saw a sea-snipe, or trumpet-fish, but, oho, without a tooth! He +made me think of a scorpion that has a poisonous, dangerous tail. +</p> +<p> +I came upon a funny sight while still in the Atlantic Ocean. A whole +school of whales went rushing along in a body, and pretty soon I saw +what it meant. Then it was more funny for me than for the poor whales. +Some whalers, men who go out in vessels to catch these enormous fishes +for their flesh, their oil, and their bones, were banging great heavy +pieces of tin of iron against stones, so frightening the whales that +they crowded in a body into a little creek or inlet. +</p> +<p> +This was just what the whalers wanted them to do. Because, once in the +narrow place, so many of them could not escape, and it became easy to +capture them. Men-Folks do really know a very great deal. It makes me +afraid of them. +</p> +<p> +An urchin-fish would make you laugh. Some call it a sea-hedgehog. It +looks as if covered all over with great thorns, and a baby sea-urchin +looks as if it was all ready to burst, it is so thick and round. +</p> +<p> +A sunfish was an odd piece. It had round eyes, and the queer little fins +just back of its neck looked like shoulder-capes. It was so fat it had +to swim with a waddle. +</p> +<p> +The herring I so much like for food are to be found in nearly all +waters, and abundant, sweet, and inviting. Famous ramblers they are, +going in great parties of thousands in number, through wide tracts of +ocean and sea. I have found that a great deal of "money," whatever that +may be, is made by Folks out of the herring fisheries, along the +Atlantic seacoast. +</p> +<p> +And let me whisper: Do you like sardines? Well, some Folks say that +herring do not live in the Mediterranean Sea, that ancient Folks knew +nothing about them, but that what we know as herring are really +sardines. These are caught in great numbers, pickled in some way, then +soaked in oil, are put in little tin boxes, tightly sealed, and sent all +over the world. +</p> +<p> +But let me whisper again, and this makes Lord Dolphin smile; it may make +you laugh. But honestly, they <i>say</i> that immense numbers of little +herring, or alewives, a little fish very much like a herring, are caught +on western shores of the Atlantic, pickled, packed in oil, and sold for +sardines. +</p> +<p> +Isn't it all very funny? If I eat sardines and call them herring, and +folks eat herring and call them sardines, why are we not square? But as +I want to be very honest in all I say, it may be that in speaking of the +herring I so much prefer, I ought to say they are found oftenest at the +far western part of the Mediterranean, where the ancient Folk were not +so likely to explore. +</p> +<p> +After I had sailed for days, gliding like a streak through the deep, +untroubled water, I came again to the Strait of Gibraltar. +</p> +<p> +Oh, with what a thrill of delight I saw this time, in these far happier +days than when last I passed through it, this narrow outlet from ocean +to sea. I went through first in a tank, I returned with the broad ocean +for my glorious bed. +</p> +<p> +I know now that the strait was named for the enormous Rock of Gibraltar, +and that it once was called the Strait of Hercules. +</p> +<p> +Now "Hercules" is another "myth" you will study about in those old Greek +fables called "mythology." He was one of the gods, and famed for his +tremendous strength. The story goes, that, coming up to a monstrous rock +in the Atlantic Ocean that entirely separated it from the Mediterranean +Sea, Hercules, wishing to pass through from ocean to sea, rent the great +rock into two parts, so making a passage through. And this was how the +narrow outlet came to be called the Strait of Hercules. +</p> +<p> +Now, for many years the passage has been called the Strait of Gibraltar. +But the two great rocks at the entrance of the strait are called "The +Pillars of Hercules." +</p> +<p> +Well, through the dividing narrows I darted, and was home again! +</p> +<p> +And I am thankful to know three great and precious words that Folks have +taught me: Friends! Liberty! Home! Are there any better words than +these? Perhaps so. But I have not learned them. Yet Folks know so much +more than a fish, even a lordly one, can understand, that it is quite +likely they may be acquainted with words having a grander meaning than +these. +</p> +<p> +But I, Lord Dolphin, traveller and story-teller, want to repeat, that I +am very, very grateful to any One I ought to thank, that I find myself +among friends again, free, and in my own glorious home, the bright blue +Midland Sea. +</p> +<center> +THE END. +</center> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11055 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/11055-h/images/01.png b/11055-h/images/01.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7213318 --- /dev/null +++ b/11055-h/images/01.png diff --git a/11055-h/images/02.png b/11055-h/images/02.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ccd5f65 --- /dev/null +++ b/11055-h/images/02.png diff --git a/11055-h/images/03.png b/11055-h/images/03.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..722fd5f --- /dev/null +++ b/11055-h/images/03.png diff --git a/11055-h/images/04.png b/11055-h/images/04.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..68ac651 --- /dev/null +++ b/11055-h/images/04.png diff --git a/11055-h/images/05.png b/11055-h/images/05.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9359947 --- /dev/null +++ b/11055-h/images/05.png diff --git a/11055-h/images/06.png b/11055-h/images/06.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3a6d3a --- /dev/null +++ b/11055-h/images/06.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13a2b74 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11055 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11055) diff --git a/old/11055-8.txt b/old/11055-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4b24ae --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11055-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2482 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lord Dolphin, by Harriet A. Cheever + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lord Dolphin + +Author: Harriet A. Cheever + +Release Date: February 12, 2004 [EBook #11055] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD DOLPHIN *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive, University of Florida, and Garrett Alley +and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN + +[Illustration: "A GREAT VESSEL WAS STRAINING AND TUGGING. AND I COULD +SEE LIGHTS"] + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN + +BY + +HARRIET A. CHEEVER + + + +AUTHOR OF "THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TRILL," "MADAME ANGORA," +"MOTHER BUNNY," ETC. + +Illustrated by + +DIANTHA W. HORNE + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN + + + +1903 + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF + +II. UNDER THE WAVES + +III. A CORAL GROVE + +IV. THE MERMAID'S CAVE + +V. MY GARDENS + +VI. MY TREASURE GROUNDS + +VII. WHAT I SAW ONE DAY + +VIII. MY STRANGE ADVENTURE + +IX. LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND + +X. HURRAH! + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"A GREAT VESSEL WAS STRAINING AND TUGGING, AND I COULD SEE LIGHTS" + +"MY TURN TO SHOW A WIDE MOUTH NOW" + +"WHITE FACES SEEMED TO RISE AND RIDE ATOP OF THE FOAMING BILLOWS" + +"OFF TORE THE FISHES, MAD WITH TERROR" + +"ONE CUTE LITTLE NYMPH OF A GIRL WAS CRAZY TO GET NEAR ME" + +"I WAS GIVEN MY FIRST RIDE ON LAND" + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN: HIS STORY + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF + +Now who ever heard of a fish's sitting up and telling his own story! + +Oh, you needn't laugh, you young Folks, perhaps you will find that I can +make out very well, considering. + +Of course I have been among "Folks," else I could never use your +language or know anything about you and your ways. + +A message is not received direct from the depths of the sea very often, +and especially from one of the natural natives. And then, there are very +few fishes that ever have an experience like mine, and travel from one +continent to another, going both by sea and by land. + +You surely will open your eyes pretty widely at that, and wonder how a +fish could go anywhere by land. Have patience and you shall hear all +about it by and by. + +I was born deep down in the Mediterranean Sea. That long name is no +stranger. You have seen it many a time in your geographies. But could +you tell the meaning of it, I wonder? _I_ can! It means "Midland Sea," +and is so named from being so near the middle of the earth. + +If the Mediterranean Sea should be pulled up and away, together with the +space it occupies, my! what a hole there would be in the big round +earth! + +Nowadays, even the little Folks hear a great deal about Europe. Some of +the family have very likely been there. Perhaps even small John or +Elizabeth have themselves crossed the great ocean, sailing on a fine +steamer to the coast of England or Ireland. + +Oho! if you had fins and could spread them like sails, and cut through +the water like a flash, you would have a very different idea of the word +"distance" from what you have now. + +I know "Folks" do not think it very nice to talk much about one's self, +but if there is no one else to introduce you, and it is necessary that +those with whom you are talking should know the truth about you, it can +be plainly seen that the only thing to do is to tell the personal story +as modestly and as truthfully as possible. + +When first I saw the light, deep down in the sea, I was quite a little +fellow, and had a mother that took splendid care of me. She never had +but one child at a time, and that one she watched over and tended with +much affection until it was fully able to take care of itself. + +My name is Dolphin, and the Dolphin family is a large one. One branch is +of a very peculiar shape, and has a long and pointed nose or beak from +which it is called the "Sea Goose," or the "Goose of the Sea." I belong +to that branch, but as to being a goose, allow me to say I never was one +and never shall be, not really and truly. + +My head is round, and so large that it forms almost a third of my whole +body. Many Folks travelling by water have seen Dolphins, as once in +awhile we are obliged to toss our heads up out of the water in order to +breathe, as we have lungs. Yet it is not necessary for us to breathe as +Folks do, and we can blow out water in an upward stream from little +holes that are over our eyes. + +My colors are fine, dark, almost black on my back, gray at the sides, +white and shiny as satin underneath. + +There are strange things about a Dolphin. One is that when one is about +to die, the colors are very beautiful. In growing faint-tinted where +once dark, new and brilliant shades flash forth that change and glow in +showy tints. In our beak are thirty or forty sharp teeth on each side of +the jaw. Our voices are peculiar. We are said to make a kind of moan, +which you know is not a very cheerful sound. This is strange, as we are +really very lively creatures, and bright and happy in disposition, not +at all moany or sad. + +Then we have a kind of small tank or reservoir inside the chest and near +the spine which is filled with pure blood. This, you must know, is +separate from the veins, and if we stay very long under water we can +draw from this reserve supply, causing it to circulate through the body. + +There is a great deal of wisdom in all this that a poor fish cannot +understand, but Folks must know how these strange things come about, and +who makes and guides all creatures everywhere. But a Dolphin cannot take +it in at all. + +We are a merry, friendly tribe. There probably are no fish that swim the +sea that are fonder of Folks than we Dolphins. And we cannot help +feeling quite proud because of what Folks have appeared to think of us. +And I must explain why I do so grand a thing as to call myself "Lord +Dolphin." + +To begin with: In long years past, in "ancient times," as they are +called, Folks had an idea that we were able to do them good in some +ways, and so were of special value to them. And certain old coins or +pieces of money had the figure of a Dolphin stamped on them. It also was +on medals, which, you know, are of gold, silver, and copper, and are +given to Folks as a reward for having done a good or a brave deed. + +The figure of a Dolphin was also sometimes embroidered on ribbon to be +used as a badge, showing that the wearer belonged to a particular +society or order using the Dolphin as an emblem. Or it might be, again, +that the figure showed one to be a member of an ancient or noble family. + +Then there are strange and attractive stories of "myths," imaginary +forms or persons, like fairies, gods, and goddesses. When you are older +you will study about these ancient, make-believe beings, and the study +will be called myth-ology, telling curious, interesting stories about +the myths. + +Apollo, one of the so-called deities, was a myth, and said to be the god +of music, medicine, and the fine arts, a great friend of mankind; and a +great favorite I was said to be of Apollo's. + +Orion, another myth, and a most exquisite player of the lute, so +charmed the Dolphins with his playing, that once being in great trouble +and throwing himself into the sea, a Dolphin bore him on his back to the +shore. + +Some Folks have called us whales. But we are not whales at all, and are +of an entirely different family. Yet I am a big fellow all of eight feet +long, while some of us are still much longer than that. + +But the chief cause of pride with the Dolphins is the notice that has +been taken of us, and the honor shown us by the royal family of France. +Why, we formed at one time the chief figure on the coat of arms of the +princes of France. + +A coat of arms, perhaps you know, is a family crest or medal, having on +it a figure or device which a high-born family adopts as its particular +sign or emblem of nobility. + +Then the French people once named a province of France for us, calling +it Dauphené, and pronounced Dor-fa-na. + +But greatest of all the honors shown us, is the fact that the little +men-babies born of the French kings, and heirs to the throne of France, +were called "the Dauphin," taken from our name. + +Are we not distinguished? And do you wonder that we have a somewhat +exalted idea of ourselves after such honors as these have been heaped +upon us? And do you think, in view of these facts, that I am taking on +too grand a title in announcing myself as "Lord Dolphin"? + +Dear me, I do hope not! It would be such a pity to make a mistake right +at the outset in telling a story. For truth to tell, I am not a bit +proud, but just a good-natured chap that has decided to spin a sea-yarn +for the amusement, and I hope the instruction, it may be, of young +Folks, being perfectly willing the older Folks should hear it, too, if +they like. And I don't believe the smaller Folks will object to the +title, even if they don't have "lords" in this country. It must be they +are all lords here, all the nice men-Folks. + +Do you wonder what I live on? Fishes, of course, for we do not have a +very great chance at getting other kinds of food under water. I like +herrings best of all, and feed on them oftener than on any other kind of +fish. + +There is just one fellow that I cannot endure. That is the flying-fish. +I fight, make war on him, and drive him away every time he comes around. +Oh, but he is the trying creature! Forever flying in your face, getting +in your way, prying into your affairs, a kind of gossip-fish, that I +despise. Why I feel so great a dislike for him I cannot say, it must be +there is something in my nature that sets me against him, but a +flying-fish and a Dolphin cannot live along the same wave. + +There is another page in my history that must be mentioned. + +Several hundred years ago our flesh used to be eaten, and what is more, +it was thought to be fine, so that only those who had a great deal of +money could afford to have it on their tables. But nowadays we are never +used for food, but are thought to be coarse, and not nearly as nice as +most other kinds of fish. + +All right! We are very glad not to be in danger of being devoured. We go +sailing along under the bright surface of the sea, in groups of just +ourselves, and such leaps as we can take! By and by, you will hear of +leaps I have taken which have been the means of my learning a great +deal. + +Away we scud, passing ships that think they are going pretty fast, but, +O Neptune! our fins and tails take us along at a spanking rate, which +makes the ships seem slow. + +In one thing we are much like Folks. Don't laugh, please, but we are +very, very fond of music. Sometimes we catch the sound of voices singing +on a vessel, and up we go, leaping fairly into the air to get as near +the sound as possible. + +And should there be a violin, a guitar, flute, or a cornet--oh, yes, I +know them all!--on a passing vessel, we float alongside just far enough +under water to keep our bodies out of sight, while we take in the +strains in our own peculiar way. For although our ears might be hard to +find, we yet absorb or draw in sound very readily. + +And now that you know quite a little about the Dolphin family, I will +tell you some things that may interest you about my watery home. For +home, you know, is wherever one lives, whether it be in the air, on the +earth, in the earth, or in the waters under the earth. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +UNDER THE WAVES + +Pretty soon I must describe my playground, but first you must learn a +few simple things about the place I love best of all places in the +world, my home in the deep, deep sea. + +Do you suppose that when the sky is dark and threatening up where you +live, and when the wind is blowing like a hurricane, and the great waves +lash about, acting as if mad, that there is great disturbance far below? + +Do you suppose that when shipmasters are shouting out orders to the +crew, and trying to keep their vessels from turning topsy-turvy or going +down out of sight, that the fishes are scampering about wild, driven +here and there by the fierce winds, and scared half to death by the fury +of the storm? + +Do you suppose there is a terrible roar of wind and wave that bangs us +against each other at such times, and makes of the under-sea a raging +bedlam? + +Oh, by no means! There is nothing of the kind down in what Folks call +"the lower ocean." It is calm and quiet as the surface of a pond on a +pleasant summer day. + +And yet, if you wonder how I first learned about the lashing and the +thrashing of the waves above our heads when there is a storm, let me +tell about the time when I was a naughty, wilful fish, bound to have my +own way and do just as I pleased. It was when I was quite young, yet +pretty well grown. And this makes me wonder if growing little men-Folks +and women-Folks ever are determined to have their own way, no matter +what the mother may say. + +I have an idea it is what is called the "smart age," when the young, +whether fish, flesh, or fowl, start up all at once, and think they know +more than--"than all the ancients." I heard that expression used once, +and it seemed somehow to fit in here. + +Well, I was a young, big fellow, when one day I felt the will strong +within me to take leaps toward the upper sea. Now, I have already said +that my mother took the best and most watchful care of me when I was a +chicken-fish. So when she saw how restless and venturesome I appeared +that day, she tried her best, poor dear, to turn me from my purpose. + +For she was older and wise, and could tell by certain signs when the +upper currents were seething and boiling. So when I darted upwards with +a strong swirl that cut the waters apart for my passage, she thrust +herself farther ahead, trying to drive me back, and said plainly by her +actions: + +"Don't go aloft, my son, you will rush into danger; heed the warnings of +your mother and stay where the waters are untroubled and safe." + +No, I was getting to be a smart man-fish, and must be allowed to go +where I would. + +Very well, I went. Upward and upward I dove, until, oh, distress! I was +caught by the turmoil and confusion of a great storm. I had gone too far +because of knowing far less than I thought I did. + +Do you ask why I did not immediately dive downwards again? Alas, I +couldn't! I had raised myself into the storm circle, and big creature +that I was, I had need to learn that there were mighty forces of the sea +that made all my strength as a mere wisp of straw when placed against +them. + +Do not Folks, I wonder, sometimes find it much easier to get into a hard +place than to get out of it? That was what I found then, being driven +about first this way, then that. I was slammed against a great, roaring +billow that sent me off presently in another direction, merely to be met +by another wave that dashed me against a third one. + +My instincts, that serve me for mind and brains, taught me that if I +wanted to get down to quiet, restful depths, I must dive head foremost +directly toward the bottom of the sea. + +Oh, what folly to try! No sooner would I get my great head and long nose +pointed for a swift downward plunge, than a thundering billow would +actually toss me into the air, just as I have seen a spurt of spray toss +a cockle-shell. + +Oh, but I saw strange sights and heard strange sounds that night! Once +when two waves came together I was not only tossed high in air, but for +several moments I actually rode atop of the rolling foam. + +It was then that I had my first view of "Folks." What wonderful beings! +My first thought was, could it be some new, amazing kind of fish that +could stand upright? You see, I had up to that time only known creatures +that lay flat, that flapped fins in order to get along, or in order to +try what is called by the long word, lo-co-mo-tion. + +But here were fine, tall objects that were in every way so different! I +indeed knew at once that they were far above and superior to the little +creatures that flew, to anything that crawled, and to any kind of fish +that swam the seas. + +A great vessel was straining and tugging, and I could see lights here +and there that showed the water black as night. Sailors' voices rose +high above the surging of water and the tempest's loud cry. There were +queer little holes in the sides of the vessel that I know now are called +"port-holes," and big guns were pointed out through them. + +A sailor with a rope about his waist tried to walk across the deck, but +was thrown along the wet and slippery boards like a ball tossed from the +hands of a child. In a queer set of outside garments that I have learned +are called "oil-skins," the crew, officers, and captain went to and fro, +trying their best to keep things straight. + +In some way I knew that the brave captain was not afraid. A little pale +he was, surely, but his voice was firm as he called through a strange +fixture called the ship's trumpet. And his hands did not shake as he +tried to peer through a great glass across the rolling sea. + +The sailor with the rope about him was again and again tossed and +tumbled about as he tried to make the passage across the deck, but as +often as he tried his mates would have to pull on the rope and right +him. And I still think, as I did that night, that a ship's crew, +sailors, officers, and captain, are brave, brave folk,--the bravest +Folks I know. + +As the storm went crashing on, I kept thrusting myself downward, in +hopes to plunge lower than the storm circle. No use. I was upborne every +time, and after many attempts knew it would be best to simply float as I +must. + +I had drifted far from the sailing-vessel, when, as I floated high on +the crest of a wave, I looked upon a pleasure-craft of some kind, riding +high upon the breakers. Men who were not regular sailors looked with +startled eyes on the terrible sea. They were calm and quiet, but from +the way they questioned the staunch skipper, and watched the men forming +the crew, I knew they carried anxious hearts, and longed to see the +waters grow calmer. + +A hard fling sent me afloat again, and I had a peep inside the cabin, +where ladies with white faces and clasped hands were whispering of the +storm, and listening with fear in their eyes to the wild clamor of the +winds. + +Then there was a peep beyond that showed me something that to this day +I cannot understand, but I tell it because my instincts assure me that +boy-Folks and girl-Folks in good homes with good parents will know just +what it meant. And although I am only Lord Dolphin, a great fish of the +sea, there was something about it that has comforted me, and I think +always will comfort me as long as I live. + +I saw a little girl, oh, a fair little creature, with fluffy, golden +hair shading her babyish face, who was on her knees beside a white and +gilded berth. + +A berth, you know, is a small bed built right against the wall in any +kind of a vessel, be it sailer, steamship, or yacht. I think this was +some rich man's yacht. + +The fair little lady, then, was on her knees beside her gilded berth, +her elbows resting on the pretty white bed, eyes closed, tiny white +hands clasped, and lips moving. She surely was talking to some One, but +Who I cannot even guess. + +But this much was certain: that child was not afraid. Not in the least! +She must have wakened from sleep, else she would not have been alone. +And hearing the wild storm, she had slipped from her little bed, put +herself on her knees, and raised her dear, fearless little hands and +heart--where? + +Oh, surely that child had a Friend somewhere whom she trusted. How +beautiful! + +They say that fishes and some other creatures are cold of blood and have +but little feeling. But I have gone far enough to think out one thing, +and it all comes of that child on her knees: if a dear mite of a woman +like that had a great, powerful Friend she could talk to in the dark, +and feel safe with in such a tempest, just as true as I am a living +Dolphin, I believe it must be some One strong enough and good enough to +care for all kinds of creatures. I do, indeed! Do you wonder it comforts +me? + +It was strange that after awhile the moon came struggling through the +black and angry sky. She rode high, did Luna,--that is the moon's +name,--and was at the full, and wherever the clouds parted for a moment, +a broad streak of luminous light shone down on great mountains of water, +leaping up and up, as if eager to crush everything before them. + +The wind did not soon go down, it could not; neither could I with my +utmost strength dive downwards through the piled-up, violent waves that +still rushed and roared, bounded and snapped with wild force. + +Luna had sailed toward the west, and a gleam of daylight was streaking +the sky at the east, before the churning, choppy waters began leaping +less high, and once again I was tossed crest-high, where I was glad to +catch sight of a sailing-vessel that was steadying herself in the +distance, and a white yacht was skipping like a frightened but rescued +bird afar off. + +I do not know whether I had been terribly afraid or not. I was not +afraid of the sea itself, it was what Folks call my "native element," +the place in which I was born, was natural to me, and I was native to +it. + +But yes, I think I was afraid that the coming together of those fierce +waves might crush me as they met in their terrible strength. The noise +of such a meeting could be heard miles away. Ships have been in great +peril from them, and fish have often had the life beaten out of them in +such a sea. + +Yet, naughty fellow that I was, no great harm came to me. As soon as I +saw my chance, head down I plunged, out of the harsh circle of the +storm. + +Oh, the peacefulness and the restfulness of those quiet lower regions! +For far below, all strife of angry billow and raging storm was unknown, +and glad enough was I to reach my mother's side. + +It may have been that my own plump sides were puffed out with the effort +I had made, and the storm's rough tossing, and my absence and the +direction I had taken all told my mother that something had gone hard +with me, and that I was glad to again be near her in the silent depths +of home. She floated with me close alongside, guided me to a restful +grove midst shimmering weeds that made a soft and silken couch, where in +the sweet stillness, lulled by the lap of gentle ripples against weed, +or shell, or bending sea-flowers, I glided off to dreamless slumber. + +And the last thing I saw before slipping off to quiet sleep was a little +bright-haired child on her knees, eyes closed, hands upraised and +folded: a child that was not afraid. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +A CORAL GROVE + +Perhaps you did not know that the fishes in the sea, both large and +small, were playful creatures. Well, they are. They can frisk, frolic, +play "hide-and-seek", "catch", and race and romp at a great rate. + +Now I want to tell something of our playground, and if you are surprised +at the beauty with which we are surrounded, why should you be? There +surely are lovely things on the earth for all kinds of upper-air +creatures, such as Folks, animals, birds, and insects, to enjoy. + +Listen, then, while I tell about the "caverns of ocean". A cavern, you +know, is a hollow or den, and old ocean holds many a cavern or den full +of interest and beauty. But I will take you first to a kind of grove. + +My home, where I spend most of my time, is in deep water. But not in the +deepest, oh, no! That is said to be two thousand fathoms down. Think of +it! More than two miles below the surface. There probably is but very +little life at that depth. But when I visit some groves, or the region +of a reef, I must first sail and sail until I reach water that is not +deep at all. + +Do you think you have ever seen coral, real coral? Yes, doubtless you +have, and you may have seen it in various forms. But I feel sure you +have never seen coral to know very much about it, as you have never been +to the bottom of the sea. + +Ah, here are all kinds of graceful shapes shooting up from the depths, +so singular and varied in form, that one would wonder what they are +meant to stand for. Look at these trees, perfect little trees in coral, +eight or ten feet high, with branches spreading out from the trunk. On +the branches are delicate sprays of fairylike net or lace-work, all in +white, but of various patterns. Should you get near enough, you would +see that these branches, some of which seem to bear flowers in shapes +like pinks or lilies, are dented or pitted as if tiny teeth had eaten +into them. This may be partly the work of worms. + +Now, this is simply a large piece of white coral, but all around and +about are fanciful shapes, nearly as large as the one described. Here, +too, are what might be taken for thick bushes or shrubs, branching out +with sprays of fretwork, white and spotless. Then there are smaller +growths like low plants, and curiously colored, some pink, some red, +others a yellowish white. These, too, appear to bear flowers, asters, +carnations, or roses. + +And for miles at a time we can rove and sport in a beautiful coral +grove. + +Think of a little house, if you can, made entirely of ivory, with here +and there bright tints mingling with the white. For coral looks like +ivory when its natural roughness is smoothed and polished. Think of +swimming through little rooms, under arches, over lovely walks, through +make-believe doors, slipping past upright altars of red and white coral, +resting on spreading seats, or under outreaching canopies, or stopping +to look at another outreaching shape like the arms of candelabra or +candlestick holders. Sliding over footstools, and under culverts, all +soft and gleaming in color. Then again there are curves and passages in +which we can hide and stay hidden as long as we please. Is it not +beautiful? And all so clean and clear! + +Yet there is need to take heed and be careful. These stretching shapes +and branches, these candle-holders and bushy twigs have sharp, hard +points, and bouncing against them too suddenly might severely wound a +fish, or it might slip into a crevice where it would be pricking work to +get out. + +Now, what is coral. Is it alive? Does it live and breathe? It is one of +the curious, mysterious things of the ocean about which Folks have +written and studied, and the wise ones say that coral is neither insect +nor fish, but a kind of sea-animal, that lives in both deep and shallow +waters. In the beginning it appears to be a tiny sea-creature, like a +small, fleshy bag, with a mouth at one end, while with the other it +clings to some object, almost always a rock. + +These little creatures are said to have the power to sting if they are +provoked. From these tiny frames there comes a hard, stony substance +that spreads and spreads as we have seen, while the part that was alive +becomes a mere dead shell. + +This is the best explanation I can give about coral and the tiny +creatures from which it takes its start, and that seem so exceedingly +small to me to be called "sea-animals." But think of the wonderful +formations that grow from the bodies of these mites of creatures! Why, +there are whole reefs or chains of rocky borders along some coasts made +entirely of coral. Some of them are known as barrier reefs. + +Bless you! it may be hard to believe, but a barrier reef twelve hundred +miles long runs along the coast of Australia between the Pacific and +Indian Oceans! Then there are coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, whole +platforms of solid coral which shut in portions of quiet water in some +places. + +The little corals themselves do not work in deep water, nor above the +surface of the sea. But the bony substance spreads and spreads, up, +down, and across the sea. And as many shell-fish eat into coral, great +quantities of fine coral-sand sink to the bottom, making a nice white +carpet for the fishes to glide over. Folks do not take coral from the +sea at any time but during the months you call April, May, and June. + +Now remember these things when you go into houses and see fine large +pieces of coral on the mantel, or it may be standing against the wall. + +Perhaps you have a coral necklace of little, uneven, red, stick-like +beads. The jeweller-man can tell you how very hard it is to drill the +holes in these beads; it is like drilling through hard rock. But if you +happen to have a necklace, brooch, or bracelet of pink coral, my! you +had better take good care of it, for it must have cost a little bag of +gold. Pink coral is rare, beautiful, and very expensive. The genuine +pink-tinted is said to have sold for so great a price as five hundred +dollars for a single ounce. + +Heigho! I want neither necklace, brooch, nor bracelet. For where, pray, +would Lord Dolphin wear a breastpin, or how would he look with a string +of coral beads about his neck, or a bracelet pinched about his tail? + +You needn't laugh so hard. I have seen Folks who hung too much jewelry +about themselves and seemed to think it becoming. A few pieces of nice +jewelry may be tasteful and ornamental, but when too much is worn, I +have a fancy that it might make a coral mite or an oyster want to laugh. + +Pretty soon I must explain why an oyster might have a right to be amused +at seeing too many gems crowded on at once. But first you must hear +something funny about coral, something so silly, too, that even a fish +is almost ashamed to tell of it; but this was true long in the past, +Folks are much wiser now. + +Long years ago there were Folks who believed that wearing a "charm," +which often was a little piece of coral, perhaps made into an ornament, +would charm away harm or danger, and keep them safe from "the evil eye." + +"Dear sakes!" you cry, "what was 'the evil eye'?" + +Well, it is almost sad to think that any one could be so foolish, yet +when Folks know but little, they will catch up strange notions and +listen to silly signs without an atom of truth or common sense in them. +So some ignorant Folks once believed that a witch, or some witchy Folk +with an evil eye, might look upon them and cause them harm, or make them +meet some danger. + +And they pretended that hanging a bit of coral somewhere about them +would keep off a look from "the evil eye," and that making children wear +a piece of it would charm away sickness and act as a medicine. Now did +you ever! + +Chinese Folks and Hindoos have made most exquisite and wonderful +carvings of the coral of the Mediterranean, and there is such a thing as +black coral, also known as brain coral, but it is too brittle to be +worked upon. + +Ah, who would not be a Dolphin, merry and free, whisking through deep, +still water, coasting over coral sands, and diving and sporting through +coral groves! + +Nor is this the only rare and curious place through which I rove, +chasing my comrades, wandering about in search of caverns below, and +sweet music above, while forever making war on my enemy, the +flying-fish. + +You see, these fish can cut through the water, reach the surface, then +really fly with finny wings across short spaces right in the air. They +think themselves smart, and are great braggarts. + +One morning a flying-fish was bent on worrying me, swishing its flapping +fins directly before my face, then darting upward, sending the spray +cross-wise into my eyes. I made a snap or two at the vexing creature, +but as I missed him he became bolder, and stopped a race I was having +with one of my mates. + +Suddenly I made a great leap after the flier, but up he went, up, up, +and I after him, sharp! Further up he went, and I pursued. He laughed, +fish-fashion, his big mouth sprawling way across his face as he sped +above the surface. + +I poked my nose into upper air and saw which way he was going, and to my +joy he made a dip just as up went my beak again, and I had him, squeezed +securely between my jaws. + +Of all the wriggling and squirming, the begging and the pleading that +ever you saw or heard! But I did not want to eat him, nor did I mean to +kill him, either. But I did mean to teach old Mister Flier a lesson, +showing it was neither wise nor in good taste to torment a fish-fellow +that was ever so much larger and stronger than himself. + +So down, down I went, until I reached a cell in a coral grove, and in I +popped his Majesty, and sat down and grinned at him. My turn to show a +wide mouth now. + +Did you know a fish could tremble? That fellow trembled and shook as if +he had a fishy fit when he found himself in that den, with a great +Dolphin's eye on him. Perhaps it was indeed "an evil eye" to him. He +could have slipped out and away would I only move and give him room. Oh, +no, not just yet! I lashed the water with my strong tail, and "made up +eyes" at him, I am afraid, in a truly evil way. + +Then I began to feel that it was neither kind nor noble to carry my +punishment too far, so off I slowly sailed, and out from his tight +corner slid my slippery prisoner. And he tormented me no more. I did not +mean to harm him, and do not think I did, but he slipped sideways +through the water ever after that. + +It must be that he jammed a fin in his haste to escape from his cubby, +but I see him often, and always with that sideways gait. I hope he is +cured forever of making of himself a pester and a plague. + +[Illustration: "MY TURN TO SHOW A WIDE MOUTH NOW"] + +I was glad to see that he still could fly, and that swift as an arrow he +could dart over and under, through and across, the thousand winding ways +of our coral groves. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE MERMAID'S CAVE + +As I have never been in a truly house, I cannot know of all the kinds of +carpets or coverings that Folks use on the floors. + +Yet I have had peeps at very lovely carpets, as in a ship's cabin, and I +know that velvet and fine, beautiful straw, as well as other kinds of +nice carpets, must be used in what Folks call their houses. + +Oh, but never has a floor of wood been covered with such wonderful +material, or covering of such marvellous workmanship, as that over which +I have roamed, and on which I have rested all my life. Yet, except in +deep waters, I will not pretend that my carpets are always very soft. + +In the deeper waters that I love, there are miles and miles of soft, +blue mud, that to a Dolphin is far more luxurious and enjoyable than the +thickest of velvet or the most closely, evenly plaited straw could be. +But when, after a long, delightful journey, I visit the regions of +shallower waters, ah, the beautiful things I could bring you, were there +a tunnel, a car, or an air-shaft to convey me safely to land! + +What are these shining, many-colored things I see lying about, with all +kinds of fishes sailing around and playing with, as a child plays with +blocks or cards? + +Shells! all kinds and shapes, many of them rough outside but smooth and +glossy as glass inside. + +What is a shell? You know the word "marine," called ma-_reen_, means +belonging to the sea, so shells are marine curiosities, for they are +always found in or near the sea. And they are really the hard, outer +covering of some sea-animal or other. + +But how can I describe shells such as I have looked upon a thousand +times? You have seen some kinds, I know, but they would not even pass as +samples of the splendid shapes and tints that lie scattered around my +floor. A few Folks have made a study of the different kinds of shells +that have floated or been carried to the shore, and have been able to +tell the class of sea-animals to which they have belonged. They once +were the coats or outside garment of a swimmer or a clinger of the sea. + +One day a mother-Dolphin missed her boy-Dolphin, and as he was quite a +young fellow, she felt much distressed. Away she sailed, peering amidst +the many objects covering the sea-floor. + +Do you suppose it is an easy matter to find a fish that has got lost? I +caught the flying-fish because he never got far away from me. But here +was a young rascal that had gone off roaming, almost before he knew how +to feed himself, and search as she might, nowhere could his mother find +the rogue of a runaway. + +If you will believe it, he was gone a week, then back he came, his eyes +as big as saucers. You see, I know how to say some things that Folks do; +by and by you will find out how I learned them. + +Master Dolphy had a story to tell. He made us understand in +fish-language that he had found a wonderful, wonderful cave, where a +party of mermaids had collected a lot of shells, oh, enough to fill a +great house! + +Now, I can't tell a thing as to the truth about mermaids. But "they +say," that is, Folks and fishes say, that they are strange, fascinating +creatures, with the head, shoulders, arms, and breast of a beautiful +woman, and part of the body and the tail of a fish. Sometimes they are +called sea-nymphs; others call them sirens. + +Have you ever lived by the sea? And on stormy evenings, when rain was +rattling on the window-pane, and the wind went screaming around the +house, have you ever imagined there were queer calls, and have you seen +strange shapes thrown up by the waves? + +Or have you ever heard an old sailor or an old fisherman tell stories of +the deep? If not, you cannot take in the kind of spell or enchantment +that lingers about the sea after listening to these sounds or hearing +these stories. They are all mixed up with the "myth" stories you heard +of a little way back. + +But these stories have been told ever since the world was young. And the +mermaids are said to be daughters of the river-god that have lived ever +in the deep and sounding ocean. + +And they were strange and weird--that is, wild, unnatural, and witching. +They would appear in both calm and stormy weather. + +Sirens were sometimes thought to be different from mermaids, but we +fishes know them to be one and the same thing--that is, if they exist at +all. It used to be said that a mermaid murmured, but that a siren sang, +with dangerous sweetness. Both murmur and both sing, one as much as the +other. + +They will all at once be seen poised on perilous rocks, their long and +splendid hair floating back in the wild wind, their eyes shining like +stars, their faces bright and glorious, their white arms and gleaming +shoulders rising like snow from midst the dark and stormy waves. + +Ah! the singing, the beckoning, and the coaxing of a mermaid! Let me +tell you how they work. + +They have a sly, four-legged creature on land, all dressed in fur, and +sporting a fine, thick tail, and they say that when this Madame Puss +wants to catch a bird that is wheeling in the air, she will manage to +first catch its eye. Then the little creature will not be able to look +away, but will wheel and circle, and circle and wheel, all the time +coming nearer, until, if no one frightens Madame Puss away, she will +keep her yellow eye fixed on the eye that she has caught, until the bird +flies close to her and is caught. + +This is called "charming a bird." And the truth must be that poor +birdie, after catching sight of that great, shining eye, does not see +Madame Puss herself, but only the bright eye, and being unable to look +away, flies nearer and nearer the strange, glittering light, until +Madame Puss makes a spring, and all is over. + +[Illustration: "WHITE FACES SEEMED TO RISE AND RIDE ATOP OF THE FOAMING +BILLOWS"] + +Just so, it is said, the sailors cannot look away from the fair, +wonderful creatures tossing their rich hair, beckoning wildly, singing +and singing with a sweetness that is not natural or earthly, until, what +with the beauty and luring, and voices of honey, the poor sailormen are +close against the rocks, and do not seem to know that they are charmed +or harmed when the waters close softly over them. + +I do not know whether I have ever seen a mermaid or not. But when I took +that dangerous voyage up into the storm circle, I saw strange shapes +that I never saw before, and heard sounds that were new to my ear. Two +or three times I thought I saw streaming hair, and white faces seemed to +rise and ride atop of the foaming billows. + +But when one is very much excited, will not imagination produce almost +any kind of an object that happens to come into the mind? Ah, I am +afraid so. Still, there are both Folks and fishes that believe in the +mermaids and their songs, and what am I that I should dare dispute them! + +Yet--let me whisper--I have heard that Folks who do not know so very +much, will tell about "goblins," "spooks," and "catch-ums," and whenever +there is talk about the mermaids and the sirens, I think of those Folks +who believe in creatures that "never were." + +But it would not do to talk in my watery home as if I had no belief in +mermaids, because, you see, as most fishes have never been with Folks, +and learned a thing or two from them, they do not know any better than +to believe in these sweet, dangerous creatures. + +So, now, here came Dolphy, with flapping fins, wild eye, and his story +of a mermaid's cave. Then a party was made up to go and see the rare and +amazing place. + +Well, it did look as if some creatures of surprising taste and skill had +brought together a collection of shells such as are never seen above the +surface of the sea, and formed, indeed, a cave fit for a mermaid's home. + +I know little about time, but it must have been days and nights I stayed +in the enchanting place, roving hither and thither, rubbing my fins +against the soft, smooth shells, and half wondering how they really came +to be grouped together in such shining rows. + +And the colors! And the shapes! Some were well-opened on the inside, and +looked as if entirely covered with pink enamel. They were of clear, +ivory white, pinkish white, pale rose, deep rose, pale yellow, or straw +color, orange yellow, blue and green mixed in glossy sheen, shades of +pink running into rich reds, purples and grayish pinks, making the fair, +sweet mother-o'-pearl. + +Some were cup-shaped, having deep hollows. Should you hold your ear +fairly shut into one of these, it is said you would hear always as often +as you so held it, the roaring of the ocean. And a roaring sound you +would hear, in very truth. Yet, let me tell you! Take a common china +cup, shut your ear into it, and the same roaring will be heard. + +Is that old ocean? No, it is simply the sound of your own blood coursing +through your veins. + +A wide-awake Frenchman once wrote that, could you look within your own +body and see the engines pumping, the valves opening and shutting, the +pipes working, and the whole machinery in action, it would surprise and +perhaps scare you into the bargain. + +We have got a little off the track, but it is well to know the facts +about these things. Now we will return to the shells. + +Look at that splendid one shaped like a bowl, but with pink lips rolled +back, through which can be seen changing tints of pink and white. Here +is one that is oblong, lined with rose enamel, but having strange horns +pointing out at one side. + +See that beauty, wide open and shaped like a saucer. Dear me, hold it a +little toward the light, and there gleams every color of the rainbow on +the polished surface. Here is another, striped with hair-like lines in +red, yellow, blue, and brown. There is a fan, wide open, beautifully +polished; it has no handle, but its coloring is in nearly all tints, and +changeable in the light. What a lovely thing is this heart-shaped shell, +with a line along the centre, and beautifully blending colors on either +side. There are many of these scattered around. + +Now, how can I describe these singular yet perfect shapes banked up +against rocks that are completely hidden on the inside of the cave? + +Over there is a funny, snarly head, with fine shreds of hair laced over +a smooth shell. Ah, what gleams of colored light shoot through the hair! +Here is a bird's nest on a bar, lying side of a wide fan, shaped like a +palm leaf; in the plaitings are curled all colors, pink, blue, yellow, +and green. + +This shell is like a foot with eighteen or twenty toes, smooth, shining, +and of flesh-like tints. This is like a bat's wing, with lines and webs +finely tinted. Look at that enamelled jug with a pipe at the top. Near +by is a perfect leaf on a small branch. + +Do see this worm, ringed around with dark purple stripes. Isn't it +queer? In that corner is a trumpet, splendidly colored inside. That +shape over there must be a fool's cap, one mass of sheeny tints inside. +Here are beautifully rounded little bowls, all scalloped around the top; +ah, see them glisten and change shades as the light strikes them! + +See the beetle-bugs, with horns sticking out in every direction. And if +here isn't a perfect shape of a lady's slipper! The lady should wear it +inside out, so all could see its exquisite mother-o'-pearl. + +Here are shells exactly like the feathery wing of a bird, and how birdie +would enjoy snuggling his soft head against the exquisite smoothness of +these shells! + +Is that a large carrot split lengthwise? It looks like it, but no carrot +split along its length ever brought to light such rainbows as glint +along these. Those shells looking so much like rattles would amuse a lot +of babies if they could play in the mermaid's cave. They would try to +catch the fine colors, and might cry when they changed and changed, and +then appeared to dance away. + +Those serpents, some half uncoiled, some out straight, will not bite. +Those flashes are not from dangerous eyes, but are only fine shell +tints. + +Here are a lot of squat jars for holding small ornaments. They are +ornaments themselves. Are they not? And what queer combs with three +shining rows of teeth, each tooth a point of color. + +Really, I might as well stop. There would be no use in trying to +describe a third of these shapes, and as to coloring, with all I have +said, you can have but a faint idea of the soft, brilliant, ever +changing hues and gleams in the mermaid's cave. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +MY GARDENS + +Long as I have talked of shells, I must say a word or two more about +shells that are used as stones. + +When I was on land a little while, I noticed in front of a few houses, +walks, that I knew at a glance were made from clam-shells. So I knew +that Folks must have machines for pounding up shells. Such a beautiful, +clean, white walk as they make! + +Then, before some fine-looking houses were great conch-shells, oblong +and twisted in shape, but pink and smooth inside. Many of them were +placed around lovely fountains, or urns of flowers. + +But I want to tell of one very beautiful and costly kind of ornament +that is made from some conch-shells, pronounced "konk." + +Romans and Greeks, but especially the Greeks, used to cut "cameos" from +the onyx-stone. And men skilled in cutting fine stones and jewels have +cut most exquisite cameos, or faces, from the kind of conch-shell that +has two layers, one dark, the other light. + +The word "cameo" is said to mean one stone upon another. The "queen +conch" is a splendid shell, with two distinct layers, one white, the +other pink. Out of the white layer is carved perhaps the face of a +woman, with a crown of flowers on her head, or it may be the head of a +knight, with a helmet on. + +But think of the fineness of the tools that must be used, the tiny files +and chisels in carving the lovely, delicate shells. The shell cameos +with the pink lower stone and white upper figure, are most expensive of +all; other shells have brown or black lower layers, and these are not as +choice. + +But when you see your grandma or great-auntie wearing a lovely +old-fashioned breastpin, bound around with gold, and holding a pink +stone, shining like crystal, with a white carved head or other figure +standing out from the lower stone, you may know it is a very valuable +ornament, and was probably made from one of the finest shells found in +the sea. Imitations are made from porcelain, but very likely grandma's +or great-auntie's will be the real conch-shell. + +Perhaps you did not know that there are fair and beautiful gardens in +my watery home. You may have picked up sprays or bunches of seaweed when +running along the beach, and some were perhaps quite pretty, while +others had turned brown and looked much like leather. + +Would you like to come with Lord Dolphin and take a swim through an +ocean garden? You would doubtless see such a sight as you had never +dreamed could be seen down in the blue water. + +All right, I'll turn into a fairy godfather, clap you on to my back, +give you the lungs of a mermaid, to prevent your choking in the water, +and then, come on! Or, rather, I should say, come down! + +"Why, why! A fairylike scene indeed!" you cry. + +Now you have not taken on "the evil eye" in coming to the bottom of the +sea, but you have taken a "fish eye." Folks usually hate fishy eyes, but +no matter, you couldn't see the first thing down here with your own +natural peepers, so be thankful that for a time you can see with eyes +like mine. + +Now, this is not a coral grove, it is a garden of flowers, and when you +exclaim again, "Oh, but I had no idea of this!" I should have to reply, +"Of course you hadn't; no more had I of the strange and beautiful +things on the land, until I had to live there a little while." + +Folks call these flowers, such as they have seen of them, weeds, +seaweeds. And I suppose they have to come under that name, as they are +not planted from seeds, but are a wild growth. Ah, but some great +Planter or Gardener surely put all these wonderful shapes and splendid +tints in the soft earth of a sea-garden. And it is all so blithe and +gay! + +Here are nearly all the shapes in bushes and almost trees that you have +in your garden on land. And as to flowers, there are leaves, spires, +cups, bells, tassels, very much such as you see in your garden at home. + +See these beautiful crimson leaves, as large as the top of a small +table, and cut in such fine, even scallops around the edges, and here is +one with a great pad of yellow right on the crimson. My! My! is it not +colored richly? + +Here are leaves shooting out like rafts, thick, like the leaves of a +rubber-tree, but larger and of a deep red. You might take a sail on one +of them. And here is a bush, shooting upright from its muddy bed, all +covered with pink sprays, on which are pink blossoms. Doesn't it make +you think of a syringa bush? Only these flowers are pink. + +Next comes this plant with a large olive green stem covered thickly +with branches, bearing flowers resembling pink roses. Were this plant +taken to the church some Sunday morning and placed on the pulpit-stand, +you may believe that after the service Folks would go crowding about the +altar, eager to find out its name and whence it came. + +What a clucking of surprise there would be when it was told that not +from any hothouse whatever, but from the depths of the ocean came the +full, lovely sea-roses. + +Are these sprays of pink coral? No, they are sea-rods and branches. If +you pinch the thick stems, water will ooze out, for they are partly +hollow, like the pond-lily stem. + +I do not wonder you look with questioning surprise at that next plant. +It is like a mass of purple bushes, a very sweet growth rather hard to +describe. All through the delicate branches are what look like small +dark berries, seen through a mist of pinkish, hairy spires. + +Don't start. These merry fishes darting through the next clump of bushes +have only come to smell of the carnation pinks the bushes bear. Are they +not strangely like your garden carnations? + +See the fishes nip at those singular pink flowers with a thick fringe +hanging from the edges. It is a shame to spoil them, but some fishes +always seem to think that graceful fringe droops down on purpose for +them to peck at. + +Now if the baby were only here, you could seat him on these broad, flat +leaves, with delicate spires all along the edges, and all of so deep a +crimson they surely would attract any child. + +What a queer flower! like the backbone of a fish with all the little +bones at the side standing out stiff and pointed, and all in pinks and +purples. + +Right in the midst of another plot of thick, flat leaves rises a mass of +pink sea-lilies, and they are beautiful; but do examine the next bed of +leaves. Are they not curious? A thick, hollow-looking stem goes through +the middle of them, and on one side of the stem they are a deep pink, on +the other side, yellow. + +Here are flowers shaped like horns and trumpets. What a forest of pinks, +greens, and yellows! And here are the greens. Such greens as you have +never seen before. + +Now suppose you were going to have a party. What decorations you could +have if only the ocean blooms would keep fresh for you to use. There +would be masses of fine furze that would be perfectly beautiful to crowd +over the pictures; silky threads that, placed on creeping green plants, +would look lovely carried along the table; yellow flowers in the midst +of masses of fine sea-mosses, and sea-ferns would make your little mates +wonder where the fresh, strange things grew. + +And there could he yards and yards of ribbons. Ribbons? Yes, long, long +sprays of yellowish green sea-ribbon, four or five inches wide, going +down to narrower ones not more than an inch in width. + +Perhaps you would like some sea-thistles. Here they are, in thick +bunches, fine and hairy, in faint, fair shades of green. And what can +this be that looks so much like a sponge? Ah, it is a tuft of moss with +green spires shooting up in the middle. + +Take care! Here are bunches of cactus with prickly leaves. Look out! +don't catch your toe in those sea-ferns. Even that sweet green +maiden-hair fern might pin down your foot so firmly that it would take a +fish's sharp tooth to set you free. + +You may ask, why are not these beautifully colored and curiously shaped +things brought on shore and sold, as they might be, for much money? And +why are they not at least put where Folks can see, learn about them, and +admire them? + +But wait a moment; what would be the effect if any one took a bunch of +your garden roses, pinks, or lilies, put them under water, and kept them +there? They would very soon be a drooping, shapeless mass. They are +formed for a different element, and could not nourish under water, +especially salt water. + +Just so ocean-flowers, and sea-tints can only live in their own element, +which is not air, but water. And the faces on our water-pansies--for we +have them--would soon fade in what to them would be lifeless air, just +as the garden pansies would lose their bright faces in the salt sea. + +Great quantities of seaweeds float ashore and are often dried and used +as fuel, or perhaps are put around garden plants to make them grow. + +But nothing that grows on the land, or in the water, can exchange places +one with the other and keep alive. It is all very curious, and more than +I can understand. Yet every creature and every plant is fitted to the +place it grows in, and is natural to it. The food, the flowers, and the +land for the use of Folks, and the food, the plants, and the water for +the use of fishes, are just what the nature of each requires. What +wisdom! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +MY TREASURE GROUNDS + +Are you tired? No? Well, that is no great wonder. It is ever so much +easier to glide through the water on the broad back of a great fish than +to ride horseback, or in a car. + +My sails or fins flap quietly to and fro, the water parts readily to +make us a path, no rough winds blow away your hat, there is no danger +way down here that a boat will bang against us, and roll you off into a +cavern or a cave. + +Now I am taking you into deeper water, which still is not so very deep, +but I want to show you some other strange things in the world I live in. + +Here we go sailing in and out of rocks, but do not be alarmed, I know +them all. Perhaps you wonder what it is that we keep pressing against, +something soft and smooth that sends extra sprays of water over us. What +can it be? + +Well, now, put on your thinking-cap. What does your mother wash the +baby with? What does Michael wash the carriage with? And what is that +object in the wire holder in the bath-tub? + +"Ah, a sponge!" you exclaim. Yes, and here is where they grow. "What, +sponges grow?" you ask. Certainly. And just as with the coral, it took +Folks a long time to find out whether sponges were plants, shrubs, or +insects. + +Now it is decided that the sponge is an animal growth. And the same as +with coral, the tiny creature that it starts from dies, and out from the +skeleton, or frame, branches the sponge that sometimes grows very large, +and sometimes is of a kind that remains small. One may be as big as a +mop, others no larger than an egg. + +Down in the blue Mediterranean Sea are found the best sponges that grow. +They are called "horny sponges," and grow in great masses, fine, yet +tough and durable. A sponge from the Mediterranean, called the "Turkey +sponge," will cost three times as much as a coarser, more brittle one +from other waters. They are porous, or full of little holes and hollows. + +We fishes like to bang against the sponges and feel the sudden spray +dash over us. Water we have all around and about us, but a shower-bath +is not as common a thing. + +When you buy a sponge, it is round, flat, or cone-shaped. Now see what +they look like under water. Here is a little tree, you say. Oh, no, it +is only a mass of sponges piled together and branching out as they grow. + +Here are fans, arches, tiny caves, and many different shapes forming a +sponge-garden. Queer, isn't it? Oh, lots of things are queer until you +learn about them. + +Would you like to see how I wash myself? Don't laugh so loud, you might +scare the fishes. I know very well that it seems to you as if I was +washing or bathing all the time, but there! Some kind of a water-bug has +plumped right down onto my head, and left a lot of sticky sand on it, +that the water does not wash away. + +Now don't be alarmed. I won't let you be swept from my back. I am only +going to wash my head. See me swim directly under this mass of sponge, +swaying out from a rock. There will be no bits of sand clinging to me +after I have been sponged a few moments. + +Here is a sponge that looks as if almost as large as your sun when it +rises out of the water, but if you squeeze that fellow dry--the sponge, +not the sun--it will not begin to be the size it is now. You could press +it into a bowl of moderate size when dry, but then take it to the pump +or the faucet, fill it with water, and my, what a balloon! + +Sponges were once called "worm-nests," and were thought to be a mere +kind of seaweed. But looked at under the sea, it would be known at once +that they are neither nest nor weed. + +Once in awhile sponges seem to spring directly up from the mud without +anything to cling to, but generally they are fastened to rocks or large +stones, and spread out and out from them. Here they look so much like a +kind of herb, that Folks who make a study of things in nature, and are +called naturalists, for a long time took them to be a kind of sea-plant, +and for years it was a puzzle as to just what they were. + +All are full of pores or layers of small cells, and some are quite +pretty from having a fringe about the cells like eyelashes. There are +others curiously shaped, looking like coral sprays, and here and there +they look like helmets; then there is another form that seems to have +long fingers running out, and is called "mermaid's gloves." + +The form called "Venus flower-basket," large and basket-shaped, might +answer for a mermaid's work-basket, and hold her thimble, scissors, and +thread. You had better take care! A mermaid may be near this very +moment, and hear you laughing. And remember, she could spin you round +from one end of the sea to another, then leave you high and dry on a big +rock in the middle of the ocean. + +Now, on what do sponges feed? Dear sakes, as if they fed on anything! +Yet they do. Although they branch and bunch out in the forms described, +yet they do not roam about, but only float or swim out as far as they +can stretch themselves while firmly fastened to a rock. Here they take +in specks or particles that float through the water; they pass through +the open pores of the body, and answer for food. The water constantly +passing through them serves to refresh and keep them round and healthy. + +Here we come to a perfect thicket of sponges, and see the fishes playing +"tag" all around and about them. There! that sly little fish, like a +salt water pickerel, nipped the tail of that great clumsy +porpoise--porpus--so hard, I heard the big fish grunt. The teeth of a +pickerel are fearfully long and sharp. + +Oh! Oh! What is that most beautiful thing we see shining with a faint, +sweet glow, down at the bottom of the sea? It is in plain sight, nestled +in the heart of a conch-shell. It is round, has a milk-like murkiness, +yet pinky, changing lights like tiny stars, that glint and gleam as you +look upon it. + +Now believe me! Of all the treasures of the sea I have told you of or +shown you, this is far and away the most precious. + +It is a pearl. Only once in a great while will so perfect and so +valuable a gem be found near my deep water home. And although we are not +so very far east, yet it would be called an "Orient," or an "Eastern +pearl." + +Perhaps it has floated in its polished pink bed from a far eastern sea. +I told you a little while ago that I must explain what an oyster had to +do with Folks that sported too many jewels, and why it might be amused +at the sight. + +Did you know that inside of an oyster-shell grew the lovely, costly +pearls that Folks will give a great deal of money for? Why, Queen +Victoria of England had a Scotch pearl that cost two hundred dollars. +Queens and princes, rich Folks, jewellers, and dealers in precious +stones, will give great sums of money for necklaces, brooches, or rings +that have in them the precious Oriental pearls. + +I had to listen very hard to find out what I did about pearls. But I +found that they have been known, talked of, and written about, almost +ever since the beginning of the world. + +Oyster-beds are generally much nearer the shore than most kinds of +shells. It is said to be when an oyster gets restless or uneasy that a +strange substance enters the edge of the shell, and after a time a pearl +is formed. And while many pearls are found in oyster-shells, they also +are often found fastened to the pink bosom of a conch-shell. + +There are black pearls of much value, but though rare, they are never +half as beautiful as a white or pink one. Some pink pearls are very +lovely, and when large-sized, are also very expensive. + +The pearl we see lying here is a splendid white one, and my! the money +it would bring! Pick up that shell, carry it with you to a jeweller, and +see the dollars the fair round gem will bring to your purse. You could +buy yourself beautiful clothes, or a pony, or could have with it a fine +party, flowers, favors, treat and all. + +What? Don't dare to? Oh, me, me, what a little coward! I can't pick it +up very well. If I took it in my mouth, down my throat it would go. If I +tried to catch it up with a fin, over into the water it would bounce. + +Never mind. Look at the sweetly beautiful conch-shell, with the +splendid gem resting so softly on its pink, polished side. And let me +tell you what I think. + +The opinion of a fish, even a great lordly one, may not be worth much, +but to me that exquisitely lovely stone, reposing on that exquisitely +lovely shell, is a far more beautiful thing to look upon than the jewel +ever could be when fitted into the costliest setting of gold. + +Now it is just as it was made, and I think that Whoever formed and set +that pearl knew more about real beauty and fitness, and what is simple, +natural, and very beautiful, than all the Folks and jewellers in the +world. + +Look at that white splendor. Don't you agree with me? + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +WHAT I SAW ONE DAY + +Now I do not know how brave an English lord may be or how much it may +take to scare him, but I, Lord Dolphin, inhabitant of the great +Mediterranean Sea, was scared nearly out of my wits and skin by the +sight I saw one day. + +But there is this to comfort me: if I was a coward at the sight, there +were plenty of other creatures in the sea to keep me company. Mercy on +us! Such a scuttling and rushing, such a whisking and a whacking, flying +and plunging, I for one never saw before. There was actually a chorus of +flapping fins and thumping tails as we raced for our lives. + +Was it a steam-engine or a monster boiler that was coming right down +from upper regions into our midst? Or, had some new sea-monster fallen +from the skies to drive us from our hunting and fishing grounds? + +We knew something about sea-lions, the huge creature that you may have +seen at the Zoo, or in a tank at the park, lifting itself like an +enormous sea-horse, and roaring like the animal whose name it bears. But +a sea-lion would not have cut through the water from way above. It would +have come steering along like a great black vessel, puffing and blowing, +while all the time it would have been a creature of the sea, and we +should have known it, and not have been so terrified. + +Or, had a whale come bearing down from upper waters, as they sometimes +do, there would have been a disturbance first, made by the spouting and +slashing that our instinct at once would have told us came from some +monster of the deep. + +Or, again, had it been the hulk of a vessel that could not stand some +violent storm, oh, yes, we should have known what that was, too. But +now, off tore the fishes, mad with terror, big fishes, little fishes, +fat fellows, lean fellows, pleasant ones, and grumblers. + +I laughed, yes, with all my fright I had to laugh at such a funny sight. +I was behind what Folks call "whole schools of fishes," only they speak +of "a school of fish," meaning many of one kind, but the madcap crowd I +looked upon was made up of almost every size and sort. + +[Illustration: "OFF TORE THE FISHES, MAD WITH TERROR"] + +I saw a porpoise--porpus--my enormous cousin, all of fifteen feet +long, crowd in midst a multitude of swift little swimmers, as if he +meant to make them help in spinning him through the water faster than he +could go by himself. Then on the back of another Dolphin, I saw a crowd +of little fishes that seemed so stiff with fear, they had been knowing +enough to cling to the back of the great fish, making a boat of him to +bear them to a place of safety. + +Paddling sideways, I caught a glimpse of the flying-fish that had been +my tormentor. All at once I stopped short. + +Now they say that some Folks are very curious. I do not mean that they +are odd or amusing to look at. But they have curiosity, and want to peer +and pry into things. It is not at all nice to want to find out all about +other Folks' affairs. It belongs to a poor, mean nature to want to do +that. But to want to inquire into matters for the sake of getting true +knowledge is right and worthy even for a fish. + +And suddenly I had determined to see just what that amazing creature +could be. If it caught and swallowed me alive, it might, but--it would +take a pretty big swallow to make away with Lord Dolphin. I confess to +going to work very much like a sneak. But it was quite easy, seeing all +the other fishes had made off and left me a clear field, to hide midst a +bed of tall sea-bushes. + +So, very gently back I paddled, with motion slow and noiseless, to the +region where the monster had come down. + +How shall I describe it? In the first place, I had never seen such a +shape before. The time when I was borne aloft on high waves, and looked +into a ship's cabin, I saw forms something like unto this one in some +respects, but, dear sakes, not with such hideous parts! But now, to name +at once and describe afterwards,-- + +It was a _diver_! + +The diver belongs to the Folks family, but, bless us, his rig! Imagine, +if you can, a black object, with a great bunchy machine of a head, and +for the rest, a mass of fixtures, such as would puzzle a far more stupid +creature than a Dolphin to make out. + +I have seen a diver many times since then, and am now able to tell a +little about the fantastic-looking being. Of course, there is very much +more to be known, but if you remember what I say, it will give you some +idea of a diver's outfit that may linger in your mind, to be added to as +you grow older. + +First, then, close to his skin are warm woollen garments, sometimes two +or even three sets of them. If the weather is cold, he may have on two +or three pairs of warm stockings. How would you like being bundled up in +that way? Yet that is only the beginning. + +Close to his head is a woollen cap coming down over his ears. Thick +shoulder-pads keep his outside suit from grazing or hurting, and it may +be that other pads are about his body. He next goes into an outside suit +of India rubber, covered both inside and outside with a tanned twill +which is water-proof, and the rubber itself has been treated in a way to +make it very hard and lasting. There is a double collar about the neck, +of tough, sheet rubber, and one is to draw well up about the neck. + +He must have assistance in getting into these rigid clothes, for it is +hard working the arms into the stiff sleeves, and forcing the hands +through cuffs which are made to expand or let out as they are drawn on, +then close tight in some odd way with rubber rings and joints at the +wrist, making the sleeves perfectly air tight. + +Great care is taken in dressing the diver. Everything must fit +perfectly, every screw must be properly wound in, every strap and buckle +made fast, or the poor diver may be in great danger. His breastplate of +copper is fastened on with metal clasps or bolts. A fixture at his back +steadies the weights both back and front, weighing forty pounds each. +These weights, it must be, are in some way supported by the ropes with +which they let him down. + +Such boots! Stout leather, with soles of lead, securely strapped on, and +weighing at least twenty pounds each. A band fitted about his waist is +kept in place by strong braces. + +Then his helmet! Tinned copper, and full of screws, pipes, and hooks. On +the face part were three openings as in a lantern, in which were screwed +plate-glasses, or bull's-eyes. These, of course, were to see through, +and stood out like little telescopes, or half-tumblers, with brass +frames around them called "guards" which protect the glass, that is +thick and strong. + +There were also queer valves, or tubes, in the helmet for letting out +bad air, yet so contrived that no water could get in. A hook was on +either side, through which ropes must pass. + +The diver can breathe while under water by means of an air-pipe, and by +pulling on a life-line, can make his wants known to those above. + +When the diver is all ready to descend, a man at the pump begins +supplying him with air, and down he goes, first on an iron ladder at +the vessel's side, then on long ladders of rope, with heavy weights at +the ends. + +I peeped from midst great weed-pads, and saw the diver as he reached the +bottom of the sea. Do you wonder I trembled, yet was amused at what I +saw? In his hands this time--for I saw him more than once after +this--was a great hook and a light bag with a wide-open mouth. And what +do you think? He had come to get sponges from the blue sea. Of course +not at very great depth. + +He knew his work. With the long hook, sponge after sponge was torn from +its clung-to home on the slippery rocks, and quickly popped into the +bag. He always moved backwards. If anything stopped him, rock, wreck, or +floating weeds, he could turn slowly and carefully around, and see what +it was. But should he meet an object suddenly at the fore, it might +break even his shielded glass. Then he must immediately give the signal +to be raised aloft. + +Divers must begin by going down only a little way under the water, as it +takes great skill and long practice to be able to go safely into deep +water. A diver has about him a coil of line connected with the ladder, +which he unwinds as he moves away; but by winding it about him again, +he can find his way back to the ladder. + +If two divers go down at the same time, I notice they take great care +not to let their air-lines or life-lines cross each other's, and so get +entangled. It might be a very serious affair to get them mixed. + +I see that divers may go down from either a barge, a sailing vessel, or +a large yacht, but there must be a deck that can hold the necessary +machines and rigging to help them in their work. By casting down heavy +pieces of lead, the sailor-Folk can "sound," or tell the distance to the +bottom of the sea. The diver's line must always be twice the length of +the distance he goes down. + +I did not find this all out at once. Oh, by no means, but by not running +away I gradually learned a great deal. And I was so glad I saw the queer +performance! The frightened fishes were not quick to come back to their +playground, where such a looking object had come swinging down, and when +he came again the next day, and the next, I had the place to myself, and +watched while he pretty well cleared that region of its fine, valuable +sponges. + +The next time I saw a diver it was in deeper water. I was sporting to +and fro at another time when there was just such a panic among the +fishes as I had seen before, and just such a scramble. + +Down, down came the fearsome looking object, while I mixed myself in +with a mass of sea-flowers, and keeping perfectly still, was not +noticed. The diver's dress was much the same as the other's had been; he +went backwards in the same cautious way, but instead of a long-handled +hook, he carried only a queer bag that was let down to him by ropes. + +The bag was deep, and had a frame along the top, with a scraper fastened +to it. And what do you think again? He began scraping in all the +conch-shells he could see that had what looked like a dab of mud or a +milky spot on the side. + +He was after pearls! + +Divers often fish for pearls midst oyster-beds, and in more shallow +water, but there are nets or dredgers also used for that purpose. But I +at once knew that very valuable pearls must often be found in +conch-shells and deep-sea oyster-shells, as the diver scraped in all of +both that he could find. + +Remember! All kinds of shell-fish are called "mollusca," have white +blood, and breathe not only in the water, but also in the air. + +And will you believe it? I have found out considerable about the signals +that a diver gives to the man at the pump on deck. + +If he wants to be pulled up, be gives the life-line four sharp pulls. +If he wants more air, he gives one pull at the air-pipe. Two pulls on +the life-line, and two pulls on the air-pipe, given quickly one after +the other, mean that he is in trouble, and wants the help of another +diver. One pull on the life-line means "all right." + +There are many other signals I could not find out the meaning of, so can +say nothing about. My instincts, as well as what I have noticed, tell me +that a diver must be in the best of health, must be rather thin, have +excellent eyesight, sound lungs, steady nerves, and a strong heart. The +work is not easy. I wonder if work that pays well is often easy? I do +not believe it is. + +There used to be a strange machine in use called the "diving-bell." A +great cast-iron cage, shaped something like a bell, let down by ropes, +and so heavy that its own weight would sink it. Divers could sit inside, +and fresh air was supplied by a force-pump. Bull's-eyes of heavy glass +let in the light. + +This must have frightened the fishes quite as much as did the diver, +although it was not as frightful in appearance. + +After a time, when the diver came down, some of my mates, seeing I was +not a bit afraid if only hidden from sight myself, stayed near me under +the broad seaweeds, but most of them fled far and wide at his approach. + +The divers themselves are not free from danger. Great sea-serpents or +sharks sometimes make it hot for them, but they are watchful, spry, and +being "Folks," with power to think and plan, can generally look out for +themselves and their safety. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +MY STRANGE ADVENTURE + +Now come the most exciting and in some respects the hardest events of my +life thus far. + +I have told of my great love of music, and have also said that the +Dolphin family is a very sociable one. Yes, and I could grow fond of +Folks, I know, if only they could live in the sea, or I could live on +the land. But as neither of these things can be, I must be content with +liking them at a distance. + +One afternoon I was full of sport, and felt lively as a cricket. Oh, +yes, I know the small, frisky fellow you call a cricket, with his little +old black legs, and have heard him sing. So on this calm and lovely +afternoon I began leaping upward instead of forward, and all at once I +heard sounds of music floating across the upper sea. You can believe I +floundered alongside, and oh, such sweetness as trilled out into the +clear air! + +The truth was, a great steamer was crossing the Mediterranean with a +pleasure party on board. What I heard was the music of a brass band. My! +My! Isn't it enough to delight the heart of any creature that has ears +to hear? It actually would make a fish dance. + +Now I didn't know it, but I made such plunges upward that my great dark +body could be seen in the clear water, and some sailors began "laying" +for me, half suspecting what might happen. + +Well-a-well, I got so full of music, joy, and friskiness, that all at +once I gave a tremendous jump, and flounced right on to the deck of the +fine steamer. Had I not been so utterly surprised, I should immediately +have flounced back again to my ocean bed "quick shot," as I afterward +heard a sailor say. But dear, deary me! I hesitated just a moment too +long, and when I made a flop intending to bounce away, lo! a stout rope +was about my body, and another about my tail, and I was a prisoner! + +Then the Folks all gathered about me, and the sailors went laughing off, +saying something about "making the fellow's bed." + +Oh, it was all very strange and unnatural. And in a few moments I began +panting for breath. Just as you would gasp, if by accident you popped +over from a boat into the water. Only you would gasp for want of air, +and I was gasping from too much of it. + +But it was not long before I was taken to a side of the vessel, and +after straining and tugging with my great weight, I was indeed bounced +into water, but when I tried to swim, oh, misery! what kind of a place +was I in? + +Only a tank, some twenty feet long by fifteen feet wide, filled with sea +water! + +Truth was, there was a man-Folk on board who had caught, and wanted to +carry to a great park in some far-distant land, a crocodile. Boo! a +great sea-reptile that I wonder any one should want to have around, even +as a curiosity. It had been taken from the river Nile in Egypt, much +farther up the Mediterranean borders than I had ever been. + +The crocodile did not live, so I was put into its tank, and that was the +"bed" the sailors had made, by filling it with salt water. Shade of my +royal grandfathers! how long I could live in such pinching quarters was +a question. + +I was given plenty of herring--so called--and other kinds of fish to +eat, and "Folks" visited me about every hour of the day. There were +children on the steamer, pretty little dears, that never tired of +talking to me, and between them all, passengers, sailors, and the +children, I learned how Folks talked, and a great many other things +besides. + +One fine, manly little fellow visited me constantly. He was voyaging for +his health, and took much pleasure in sitting beside the tank, book in +hand, yet watching my movements, and once he said something that made me +wish I could talk in the language of Folks. Yet before I tell what it +was, I want to say that there was one thing I did not like at all, but +was not able to let the Folks know it. + +The sailors called me "Dolly!" A great name to give a lord of the sea, a +fellow bearing the title I owned! + +The next morning after my capture, a really fine Jack--sailors are all +"Jack," you know--came rolling toward my tank, and sang out in +sea-breezy fashion: + +"Hulloo, Dolly-me-dear, how do you find yourself to-day?" + +I liked his hearty manner and cheery voice, but, dear me, I was "Dolly" +to every man-Jack on board after that, and to all the others as well. + +So this dear little man once said to me: + +"Oh, Dolly, how I wish you could tell me about things under the sea! I +know if you could only talk my way, you could tell stories by the hour, +and what pleasure it would be to listen." + +"Stories, indeed, my pretty," I thought, and I did wish I could open my +wide mouth and entertain the little fellow with a few sea yarns. And now +that in some way I can make Folks understand me, I only hope that my +young steamer friend, among others, will see and enjoy Lord Dolphin's +story. + +Then the lady-Folks were fine, with their pretty dresses, nice manners, +and soft voices. But I did so like the children! One cute little nymph +of a girl was crazy to get near me, yet nearly scared to pieces if I so +much as looked at her. Oh, she was so fair to see, with her golden hair +flying back in the breeze, eyes blue as the sky, and her sweet, dimpled +face full of smiles! + +She would come running up to the tank with a great show of courage, +crying bravely: "Hi, old Mister Dolly! I'se goin' a-put your great eye +out!" But when the eye half-looked at her, off she would scud, and all I +could see was a mass of flying yellow hair, a whisking of snowy skirts, +and my little nymph was gone. + +[Illustration: "ONE CUTE LITTLE NYMPH OF A GIRL WAS CRAZY TO GET NEAR +ME"] + +A dozen times a day she would appear, and as long as I remained under +water, she would hover near. There was a railing around the tank, which +was sunk in, lower than the deck, so she could not fall in, nor could I +possibly get out, but as soon as my head began rearing above the water, +scoot! little Amy was missing. + +We had no hard storm while steaming over the bright Mediterranean. But +one day the little man, whose name was Roland, said to wee Amy: + +"Clear day, isn't it?" + +And Amy replied, woman-fashion, "Yes, booful day, but what sood you do +if there comed a big storm, and we all went ricketty, rockerty, and +couldn't stand up single minute? Wouldn't you be 'fraid?" + +"N-o," said Roland, speaking slowly and thoughtfully, "I don't think I +should be much afraid, but I should want to keep quiet and think. What +should you do?" and he smiled. + +"Oh, me would say my prayers, and keep a-sayin' them," said the child, +soberly, then she added, "and up would go my prayers into the sky, and +so I needn't be frightened a bit." + +Now I don't know in the least what "prayers" mean, but I remembered at +once what that other child had done in the storm, and it made me think +that the Friend the other little girl trusted lives up in the sky, and +can hear when Folks tell that they need help. How lovely! Really, Folks +ought to be very thankful for all they know! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND + + +Well, we sailed and we sailed, but it was poor sailing for me, and every +hour I longed to make a monster jump, clear the railing, and splash into +the splendid bed beneath the cooped-up tank. + +But Folks know how to make things strong and secure, and once or twice, +when I tried leaping, it was only to bang my sides against the edges of +the tank, and spatter the deck far and wide, making extra work for the +sailors. + +After a time, we ran through what Jack called "the Strait of Gibraltar," +and were in the great Atlantic Ocean, and one day Jack said to me: + +"Now then, me hearty, we're making a bee-line for New York City, and +it's a big tub they'll be giving you at the fine park, I'm thinking." + +So I knew I was to take the place of the crocodile, and be made a show +of. + +I tried to make the best of things. Folks amused me by standing near +the tank and talking about affairs. The band played delightfully. Salt +water was freshly supplied me every day or two. I learned that my fare +was much greater than any other voyager's on board, that is, it cost +more to carry me. + +But think of a passenger that would have been perfectly thankful to have +been thrown overboard! I was that same fellow. + +After about ten days, which seemed like a year to me, there was great +excitement all around. Such a running and tramping, such a waving of +hats and handkerchiefs. Ah! we were landing. Roland came to my side and +exclaimed: + +"Good-by, Dolly, old boy! I may see you sometime in your new quarters." +Little Amy lisped a hurried, "By, by, Dolly, good Fishy!" and after an +hour or two, all the passengers had left the boat except the man who +owned me and myself. + +Nor was I moved until the next day. Then I was made to swim into a +smaller tank, not much longer than I am, in which I could not have +lived, it seemed to me, a single day. + +[Illustration: "I WAS GIVEN MY FIRST RIDE ON LAND"] + +But I was next boosted, tank and all, on to a great dray, drawn by +creatures called "horses." Sailors joked, drivers laughed, a crowd +peered at me with eyes full of wonder, and I was given my first ride +_on land_, yet in what to me was a mere puddle of water. + +Ah, how new and strange! The jolting and the bouncing, the noise, the +whistles, the voices, rattling of heavy wagons, booming of cars overhead +and along the ground, strange calls and ringing of bells, the whole +mixed racket nearly stunning me, for my hearing is very acute and sharp. +I cannot tell you how distracting it all was to a poor, pent-up fish. I +felt like anything but a "lord" then. + +And what was this unknown matter floating into my squeezed-up basin? +Dust! Something I had never seen before, and--I didn't like it! + +The sea for me, first, last, and forever! + +At the park I must say things were fine, and could they only have been +more natural, I should have had considerable fun. I found that a Dolphin +on land, although kept in a small square pond, was indeed quite a +curiosity, both to young Folks and older ones. + +I imagine that a quantity of coarse salt was thrown every little while +into the larger space now given me, else I could scarcely have lived. +But my keepers were attentive and kind, the young Folks threw me many +kinds of strange food, and "Bless my lights!" as Jack would say, what +kind of things do Folks live on! + +Great quantities of little oblong balls, snapped out of a shell, +different from any kind of shell I had ever seen before, were thrown me +nearly every hour of the day. Oh, yes, they were called "peanuts." +Really, I liked them, only it took about a hundred to get enough to chew +on. + +Then there were white things, making me think of some small shells, as +there were peeps of yellow inside. Ah, I remember again, they were named +"popcorn." I preferred the peanuts. + +I didn't know what to think of "taffy." Jinks! how it stuck to a +fellow's jaws! Bah! the whole lot of stuff called "candy" was too sweet +and sticky. + +Some jolly-looking people that came to the park for what they called a +"picnic," tossed me queer food named "doughnuts," and "ginger-snaps." +Yes, I liked them, too, particularly the snaps. Then there was an +everlasting fruit named "banana" that I liked at first, it was so soft +and slipped down so easily, but I had too much of it, and grew tired of +it. + +I grew tame, would raise my great head close to the strong wire-netting, +and over would come all kinds of what Folks call "treats." Once, +however, a man-Folk threw me part of a small round, dark roll or stick, +such as men-Folks put in their mouths at one end, and send out smoke +from the other end. + +Boo, bumaloo, what stuff! bitter and horrid! Men-Folks must have a queer +taste to enjoy tasting and smoking such black, weedy things. One taste +of a "cigar" was enough for me. + +I was sorry not to see the boy Roland or the little girl Amy again, but +I think they may have gone to some other land-place, and so could not +come to the park. But although I saw so many other pleasant young Folks, +I did not forget them. + +Then, to my sorrow, just as I was getting used to things, although +always in a homesick way, I heard the keepers talking, and learned that +I was to be moved to another great city, where there was to be an +"exposition," or a showing of strange and useful things from many +different lands and seas, really an "exhibition." + +I began growing flabby and thin. My spirits were at ebb-tide, very low. +I felt as if pining to death. Ah, me! I would have given all the pearls +of the ocean and sea, could I have got hold of them, to be back in my +own dear Mediterranean groves. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +HURRAH! + +Then the day came when I was again made to swim into that despised +little tank. It was put on to a dray as before, and I was given my +second ride on land. May it forever be my last! + +The roar of the great city again filled my ears, dust troubled my eyes +whenever I raised my head. I was faint, weary, and wretched. I could +feel that I had grown lighter from loss of flesh, because of the +unnatural life that I was leading. + +How I wished I might escape! That some great and powerful Friend would +help me. But I was only a fish, had only fins and tail to aid me, that I +knew of, and those were at present of but very little use. + +At length the boat was reached. There was some confusion, as they were +"short of hands," which it appears meant they had not as many men at +the dock as were wanted. But the tank was got on board, and men ran for +the railing that was to be put around the edge. + +Their backs were turned for an instant. Oh! Oh! could I give a mighty +lurch, bound over the deck-rail, and be free? No waiting this time! I +slashed upward in a tremendous "heave-to." Whack! I struck the rail, +wriggled quick as lightning over the side, and hurrah and hurrah! I was +swimming the wide, free river! + +Not my own sea. No, there must be first the shortest cut I could find +into the ocean and salt water, then there would be many days of sweet, +wholesome journeying and paddling before home grounds could be reached, +but reached they would be all in good time. + +Folks say that if Madame Puss, that land-creature who does not love the +water overwell, is carried miles from her home in the dark, she will +find the way back again. And I felt sure that, once out into the harbor, +I could strike a bee-line for a far opposite shore, cut through the +narrows at Gibraltar, and enter like a returning monarch on my own proud +domain, the fair blue Mediterranean Sea. Oh, hurrah again! + +I heard a loud and echoing shout as my great body splashed into the +water, caught the sound of rushing feet, and saw heavy ropes with +strange loops at the ends, that were flung overboard in hopes to +entangle me, and bring back their great fancy fish into that tank again. + +Oh, no, Mister Sailorman, and Mister Deckhand. No, no! I had seen and +felt quite enough of being on land, thank you, to last me all the rest +of my life. And as the Dolphin family is very long lived, I hope that +many years of sweet, delicious freedom, and enjoyment of my native +element, are yet before me. + +And if there was a great king of the Dolphins, as there must be a great +Friend of the Folks, that guides our affairs, I would send him a letter +a yard long, full of thanks for my freedom. It may be there is such a +king, but real knowledge of such things is way beyond me. + +I saw strange craft as I boomed along, always giving them a wide berth. +And such fishes! Did you ever see an angel-fish? Don't ever wish to if +you haven't. It ought to be called evil spirit fish. In appearance it is +one of the quaintest, ugliest creatures that swims the sea. Some Folks +call it monk-fish. It is all of four feet long, has fierce, goggly eyes, +and a round, wicked-looking head, that seems nearly separated from the +rest of its thick body by a thin, short neck. Then such a +vicious-looking tail! Oh, you had better keep clear of an angel-fish. + +A toad-fish looked like an enormous, swimming toad. Bless me! I caught +sight of a shark as I came well out into the ocean. He was more than +twenty feet long. Think of that! But they are thirty feet sometimes. His +great, fleshy, powerful tail takes him along as he looks from side to +side for his prey. I saw his pointed nose and his rows of awful teeth, +one over another. + +There are sharks that can bite a man in halves. Once in awhile we see a +shark in our Mediterranean, but they do not abound there. Yet now and +then Mister Diver-man has had to rush for his life to reach the friendly +ladder when the disturbance under water to right and left has warned him +that one of these sea-monsters was approaching. Oh, they are dreadful +creatures, and greedy, too. They will follow vessels for miles and +miles, expecting that cast-off food will be thrown into the sea, as it +often is. Their instinct tells them that food is likely to drop from +vessels, and it does, indeed. + +I also saw a sea-snipe, or trumpet-fish, but, oho, without a tooth! He +made me think of a scorpion that has a poisonous, dangerous tail. + +I came upon a funny sight while still in the Atlantic Ocean. A whole +school of whales went rushing along in a body, and pretty soon I saw +what it meant. Then it was more funny for me than for the poor whales. +Some whalers, men who go out in vessels to catch these enormous fishes +for their flesh, their oil, and their bones, were banging great heavy +pieces of tin of iron against stones, so frightening the whales that +they crowded in a body into a little creek or inlet. + +This was just what the whalers wanted them to do. Because, once in the +narrow place, so many of them could not escape, and it became easy to +capture them. Men-Folks do really know a very great deal. It makes me +afraid of them. + +An urchin-fish would make you laugh. Some call it a sea-hedgehog. It +looks as if covered all over with great thorns, and a baby sea-urchin +looks as if it was all ready to burst, it is so thick and round. + +A sunfish was an odd piece. It had round eyes, and the queer little fins +just back of its neck looked like shoulder-capes. It was so fat it had +to swim with a waddle. + +The herring I so much like for food are to be found in nearly all +waters, and abundant, sweet, and inviting. Famous ramblers they are, +going in great parties of thousands in number, through wide tracts of +ocean and sea. I have found that a great deal of "money," whatever that +may be, is made by Folks out of the herring fisheries, along the +Atlantic seacoast. + +And let me whisper: Do you like sardines? Well, some Folks say that +herring do not live in the Mediterranean Sea, that ancient Folks knew +nothing about them, but that what we know as herring are really +sardines. These are caught in great numbers, pickled in some way, then +soaked in oil, are put in little tin boxes, tightly sealed, and sent all +over the world. + +But let me whisper again, and this makes Lord Dolphin smile; it may make +you laugh. But honestly, they _say_ that immense numbers of little +herring, or alewives, a little fish very much like a herring, are caught +on western shores of the Atlantic, pickled, packed in oil, and sold for +sardines. + +Isn't it all very funny? If I eat sardines and call them herring, and +folks eat herring and call them sardines, why are we not square? But as +I want to be very honest in all I say, it may be that in speaking of the +herring I so much prefer, I ought to say they are found oftenest at the +far western part of the Mediterranean, where the ancient Folk were not +so likely to explore. + +After I had sailed for days, gliding like a streak through the deep, +untroubled water, I came again to the Strait of Gibraltar. + +Oh, with what a thrill of delight I saw this time, in these far happier +days than when last I passed through it, this narrow outlet from ocean +to sea. I went through first in a tank, I returned with the broad ocean +for my glorious bed. + +I know now that the strait was named for the enormous Rock of Gibraltar, +and that it once was called the Strait of Hercules. + +Now "Hercules" is another "myth" you will study about in those old Greek +fables called "mythology." He was one of the gods, and famed for his +tremendous strength. The story goes, that, coming up to a monstrous rock +in the Atlantic Ocean that entirely separated it from the Mediterranean +Sea, Hercules, wishing to pass through from ocean to sea, rent the great +rock into two parts, so making a passage through. And this was how the +narrow outlet came to be called the Strait of Hercules. + +Now, for many years the passage has been called the Strait of Gibraltar. +But the two great rocks at the entrance of the strait are called "The +Pillars of Hercules." + +Well, through the dividing narrows I darted, and was home again! + +And I am thankful to know three great and precious words that Folks have +taught me: Friends! Liberty! Home! Are there any better words than +these? Perhaps so. But I have not learned them. Yet Folks know so much +more than a fish, even a lordly one, can understand, that it is quite +likely they may be acquainted with words having a grander meaning than +these. + +But I, Lord Dolphin, traveller and story-teller, want to repeat, that I +am very, very grateful to any One I ought to thank, that I find myself +among friends again, free, and in my own glorious home, the bright blue +Midland Sea. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lord Dolphin, by Harriet A. 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Cheever. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lord Dolphin, by Harriet A. Cheever + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lord Dolphin + +Author: Harriet A. Cheever + +Release Date: February 12, 2004 [EBook #11055] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD DOLPHIN *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive, University of Florida, and Garrett Alley +and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h1>LORD DOLPHIN</h1> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/01.png" height="710" width="450" +alt="'A Great Vessel Was Straining and Tugging. and I Could See Lights'"> +</center> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a> +<h2> + LORD DOLPHIN +</h2> + +<center> +<b>BY HARRIET A. CHEEVER </b> +</center> +<br> +<center> +AUTHOR OF +</center> +<center> +"THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TRILL," "MADAME ANGORA," "MOTHER BUNNY," ETC. +</center> +<br><br> +<center> +Illustrated by +</center> +<center> +DIANTHA W. HORNE +</center> +<br><br><br> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_2"><!-- RULE4 2 --></a> +<h2> + LORD DOLPHIN +</h2> + +<center> +1903 +</center> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr> + +<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<pre> +<a href="#CH1">I. LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF</a> +<a href="#CH2">II. UNDER THE WAVES</a> +<a href="#CH3">III. A CORAL GROVE</a> +<a href="#CH4">IV. THE MERMAID'S CAVE</a> +<a href="#CH5">V. MY GARDENS</a> +<a href="#CH6">VI. MY TREASURE GROUNDS</a> +<a href="#CH7">VII. WHAT I SAW ONE DAY</a> +<a href="#CH8">VIII. MY STRANGE ADVENTURE</a> +<a href="#CH9">IX. LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND</a> +<a href="#CH10">X. HURRAH!</a> +</pre> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="ILL"><!-- ILL --></a> +<h2> + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</h2> + +<p>1. <a href="#image-1"> +'A Great Vessel Was Straining and Tugging. and I Could See Lights' +</a></p> +<p>2. <a href="#image-2"> +'My Turn to Show a Wide Mouth Now' +</a></p> +<p>3. <a href="#image-3"> +'White Faces Seemed to Rise and Ride atop of the Foaming Billows' +</a></p> +<p>4. <a href="#image-4"> +'Off Tore the Fishes, Mad With Terror' +</a></p> +<p>5. <a href="#image-5"> +'One Cute Little Nymph of a Girl Was Crazy to Get Near Me' +</a></p> +<p>6. <a href="#image-6"> +'I Was Given My First Ride on Land' +</a></p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="RULE4_3"><!-- RULE4 3 --></a> +<h2> + LORD DOLPHIN: HIS STORY +</h2> + +<hr> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER I. +</h2> + +<center> +LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF +</center> +<p> +Now who ever heard of a fish's sitting up and telling his own story! +</p> +<p> +Oh, you needn't laugh, you young Folks, perhaps you will find that I can +make out very well, considering. +</p> +<p> +Of course I have been among "Folks," else I could never use your +language or know anything about you and your ways. +</p> +<p> +A message is not received direct from the depths of the sea very often, +and especially from one of the natural natives. And then, there are very +few fishes that ever have an experience like mine, and travel from one +continent to another, going both by sea and by land. +</p> +<p> +You surely will open your eyes pretty widely at that, and wonder how a +fish could go anywhere by land. Have patience and you shall hear all +about it by and by. +</p> +<p> +I was born deep down in the Mediterranean Sea. That long name is no +stranger. You have seen it many a time in your geographies. But could +you tell the meaning of it, I wonder? <i>I</i> can! It means "Midland Sea," +and is so named from being so near the middle of the earth. +</p> +<p> +If the Mediterranean Sea should be pulled up and away, together with the +space it occupies, my! what a hole there would be in the big round +earth! +</p> +<p> +Nowadays, even the little Folks hear a great deal about Europe. Some of +the family have very likely been there. Perhaps even small John or +Elizabeth have themselves crossed the great ocean, sailing on a fine +steamer to the coast of England or Ireland. +</p> +<p> +Oho! if you had fins and could spread them like sails, and cut through +the water like a flash, you would have a very different idea of the word +"distance" from what you have now. +</p> +<p> +I know "Folks" do not think it very nice to talk much about one's self, +but if there is no one else to introduce you, and it is necessary that +those with whom you are talking should know the truth about you, it can +be plainly seen that the only thing to do is to tell the personal story +as modestly and as truthfully as possible. +</p> +<p> +When first I saw the light, deep down in the sea, I was quite a little +fellow, and had a mother that took splendid care of me. She never had +but one child at a time, and that one she watched over and tended with +much affection until it was fully able to take care of itself. +</p> +<p> +My name is Dolphin, and the Dolphin family is a large one. One branch is +of a very peculiar shape, and has a long and pointed nose or beak from +which it is called the "Sea Goose," or the "Goose of the Sea." I belong +to that branch, but as to being a goose, allow me to say I never was one +and never shall be, not really and truly. +</p> +<p> +My head is round, and so large that it forms almost a third of my whole +body. Many Folks travelling by water have seen Dolphins, as once in +awhile we are obliged to toss our heads up out of the water in order to +breathe, as we have lungs. Yet it is not necessary for us to breathe as +Folks do, and we can blow out water in an upward stream from little +holes that are over our eyes. +</p> +<p> +My colors are fine, dark, almost black on my back, gray at the sides, +white and shiny as satin underneath. +</p> +<p> +There are strange things about a Dolphin. One is that when one is about +to die, the colors are very beautiful. In growing faint-tinted where +once dark, new and brilliant shades flash forth that change and glow in +showy tints. In our beak are thirty or forty sharp teeth on each side of +the jaw. Our voices are peculiar. We are said to make a kind of moan, +which you know is not a very cheerful sound. This is strange, as we are +really very lively creatures, and bright and happy in disposition, not +at all moany or sad. +</p> +<p> +Then we have a kind of small tank or reservoir inside the chest and near +the spine which is filled with pure blood. This, you must know, is +separate from the veins, and if we stay very long under water we can +draw from this reserve supply, causing it to circulate through the body. +</p> +<p> +There is a great deal of wisdom in all this that a poor fish cannot +understand, but Folks must know how these strange things come about, and +who makes and guides all creatures everywhere. But a Dolphin cannot take +it in at all. +</p> +<p> +We are a merry, friendly tribe. There probably are no fish that swim the +sea that are fonder of Folks than we Dolphins. And we cannot help +feeling quite proud because of what Folks have appeared to think of us. +And I must explain why I do so grand a thing as to call myself "Lord +Dolphin." +</p> +<p> +To begin with: In long years past, in "ancient times," as they are +called, Folks had an idea that we were able to do them good in some +ways, and so were of special value to them. And certain old coins or +pieces of money had the figure of a Dolphin stamped on them. It also was +on medals, which, you know, are of gold, silver, and copper, and are +given to Folks as a reward for having done a good or a brave deed. +</p> +<p> +The figure of a Dolphin was also sometimes embroidered on ribbon to be +used as a badge, showing that the wearer belonged to a particular +society or order using the Dolphin as an emblem. Or it might be, again, +that the figure showed one to be a member of an ancient or noble family. +</p> +<p> +Then there are strange and attractive stories of "myths," imaginary +forms or persons, like fairies, gods, and goddesses. When you are older +you will study about these ancient, make-believe beings, and the study +will be called myth-ology, telling curious, interesting stories about +the myths. +</p> +<p> +Apollo, one of the so-called deities, was a myth, and said to be the god +of music, medicine, and the fine arts, a great friend of mankind; and a +great favorite I was said to be of Apollo's. +</p> +<p> +Orion, another myth, and a most exquisite player of the lute, so +charmed the Dolphins with his playing, that once being in great trouble +and throwing himself into the sea, a Dolphin bore him on his back to the +shore. +</p> +<p> +Some Folks have called us whales. But we are not whales at all, and are +of an entirely different family. Yet I am a big fellow all of eight feet +long, while some of us are still much longer than that. +</p> +<p> +But the chief cause of pride with the Dolphins is the notice that has +been taken of us, and the honor shown us by the royal family of France. +Why, we formed at one time the chief figure on the coat of arms of the +princes of France. +</p> +<p> +A coat of arms, perhaps you know, is a family crest or medal, having on +it a figure or device which a high-born family adopts as its particular +sign or emblem of nobility. +</p> +<p> +Then the French people once named a province of France for us, calling +it Dauphené, and pronounced Dor-fa-na. +</p> +<p> +But greatest of all the honors shown us, is the fact that the little +men-babies born of the French kings, and heirs to the throne of France, +were called "the Dauphin," taken from our name. +</p> +<p> +Are we not distinguished? And do you wonder that we have a somewhat +exalted idea of ourselves after such honors as these have been heaped +upon us? And do you think, in view of these facts, that I am taking on +too grand a title in announcing myself as "Lord Dolphin"? +</p> +<p> +Dear me, I do hope not! It would be such a pity to make a mistake right +at the outset in telling a story. For truth to tell, I am not a bit +proud, but just a good-natured chap that has decided to spin a sea-yarn +for the amusement, and I hope the instruction, it may be, of young +Folks, being perfectly willing the older Folks should hear it, too, if +they like. And I don't believe the smaller Folks will object to the +title, even if they don't have "lords" in this country. It must be they +are all lords here, all the nice men-Folks. +</p> +<p> +Do you wonder what I live on? Fishes, of course, for we do not have a +very great chance at getting other kinds of food under water. I like +herrings best of all, and feed on them oftener than on any other kind of +fish. +</p> +<p> +There is just one fellow that I cannot endure. That is the flying-fish. +I fight, make war on him, and drive him away every time he comes around. +Oh, but he is the trying creature! Forever flying in your face, getting +in your way, prying into your affairs, a kind of gossip-fish, that I +despise. Why I feel so great a dislike for him I cannot say, it must be +there is something in my nature that sets me against him, but a +flying-fish and a Dolphin cannot live along the same wave. +</p> +<p> +There is another page in my history that must be mentioned. +</p> +<p> +Several hundred years ago our flesh used to be eaten, and what is more, +it was thought to be fine, so that only those who had a great deal of +money could afford to have it on their tables. But nowadays we are never +used for food, but are thought to be coarse, and not nearly as nice as +most other kinds of fish. +</p> +<p> +All right! We are very glad not to be in danger of being devoured. We go +sailing along under the bright surface of the sea, in groups of just +ourselves, and such leaps as we can take! By and by, you will hear of +leaps I have taken which have been the means of my learning a great +deal. +</p> +<p> +Away we scud, passing ships that think they are going pretty fast, but, +O Neptune! our fins and tails take us along at a spanking rate, which +makes the ships seem slow. +</p> +<p> +In one thing we are much like Folks. Don't laugh, please, but we are +very, very fond of music. Sometimes we catch the sound of voices singing +on a vessel, and up we go, leaping fairly into the air to get as near +the sound as possible. +</p> +<p> +And should there be a violin, a guitar, flute, or a cornet—oh, yes, I +know them all!—on a passing vessel, we float alongside just far enough +under water to keep our bodies out of sight, while we take in the +strains in our own peculiar way. For although our ears might be hard to +find, we yet absorb or draw in sound very readily. +</p> +<p> +And now that you know quite a little about the Dolphin family, I will +tell you some things that may interest you about my watery home. For +home, you know, is wherever one lives, whether it be in the air, on the +earth, in the earth, or in the waters under the earth. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER II. +</h2> + +<center> +UNDER THE WAVES +</center> +<p> +Pretty soon I must describe my playground, but first you must learn a +few simple things about the place I love best of all places in the +world, my home in the deep, deep sea. +</p> +<p> +Do you suppose that when the sky is dark and threatening up where you +live, and when the wind is blowing like a hurricane, and the great waves +lash about, acting as if mad, that there is great disturbance far below? +</p> +<p> +Do you suppose that when shipmasters are shouting out orders to the +crew, and trying to keep their vessels from turning topsy-turvy or going +down out of sight, that the fishes are scampering about wild, driven +here and there by the fierce winds, and scared half to death by the fury +of the storm? +</p> +<p> +Do you suppose there is a terrible roar of wind and wave that bangs us +against each other at such times, and makes of the under-sea a raging +bedlam? +</p> +<p> +Oh, by no means! There is nothing of the kind down in what Folks call +"the lower ocean." It is calm and quiet as the surface of a pond on a +pleasant summer day. +</p> +<p> +And yet, if you wonder how I first learned about the lashing and the +thrashing of the waves above our heads when there is a storm, let me +tell about the time when I was a naughty, wilful fish, bound to have my +own way and do just as I pleased. It was when I was quite young, yet +pretty well grown. And this makes me wonder if growing little men-Folks +and women-Folks ever are determined to have their own way, no matter +what the mother may say. +</p> +<p> +I have an idea it is what is called the "smart age," when the young, +whether fish, flesh, or fowl, start up all at once, and think they know +more than—"than all the ancients." I heard that expression used once, +and it seemed somehow to fit in here. +</p> +<p> +Well, I was a young, big fellow, when one day I felt the will strong +within me to take leaps toward the upper sea. Now, I have already said +that my mother took the best and most watchful care of me when I was a +chicken-fish. So when she saw how restless and venturesome I appeared +that day, she tried her best, poor dear, to turn me from my purpose. +</p> +<p> +For she was older and wise, and could tell by certain signs when the +upper currents were seething and boiling. So when I darted upwards with +a strong swirl that cut the waters apart for my passage, she thrust +herself farther ahead, trying to drive me back, and said plainly by her +actions: +</p> +<p> +"Don't go aloft, my son, you will rush into danger; heed the warnings of +your mother and stay where the waters are untroubled and safe." +</p> +<p> +No, I was getting to be a smart man-fish, and must be allowed to go +where I would. +</p> +<p> +Very well, I went. Upward and upward I dove, until, oh, distress! I was +caught by the turmoil and confusion of a great storm. I had gone too far +because of knowing far less than I thought I did. +</p> +<p> +Do you ask why I did not immediately dive downwards again? Alas, I +couldn't! I had raised myself into the storm circle, and big creature +that I was, I had need to learn that there were mighty forces of the sea +that made all my strength as a mere wisp of straw when placed against +them. +</p> +<p> +Do not Folks, I wonder, sometimes find it much easier to get into a hard +place than to get out of it? That was what I found then, being driven +about first this way, then that. I was slammed against a great, roaring +billow that sent me off presently in another direction, merely to be met +by another wave that dashed me against a third one. +</p> +<p> +My instincts, that serve me for mind and brains, taught me that if I +wanted to get down to quiet, restful depths, I must dive head foremost +directly toward the bottom of the sea. +</p> +<p> +Oh, what folly to try! No sooner would I get my great head and long nose +pointed for a swift downward plunge, than a thundering billow would +actually toss me into the air, just as I have seen a spurt of spray toss +a cockle-shell. +</p> +<p> +Oh, but I saw strange sights and heard strange sounds that night! Once +when two waves came together I was not only tossed high in air, but for +several moments I actually rode atop of the rolling foam. +</p> +<p> +It was then that I had my first view of "Folks." What wonderful beings! +My first thought was, could it be some new, amazing kind of fish that +could stand upright? You see, I had up to that time only known creatures +that lay flat, that flapped fins in order to get along, or in order to +try what is called by the long word, lo-co-mo-tion. +</p> +<p> +But here were fine, tall objects that were in every way so different! I +indeed knew at once that they were far above and superior to the little +creatures that flew, to anything that crawled, and to any kind of fish +that swam the seas. +</p> +<p> +A great vessel was straining and tugging, and I could see lights here +and there that showed the water black as night. Sailors' voices rose +high above the surging of water and the tempest's loud cry. There were +queer little holes in the sides of the vessel that I know now are called +"port-holes," and big guns were pointed out through them. +</p> +<p> +A sailor with a rope about his waist tried to walk across the deck, but +was thrown along the wet and slippery boards like a ball tossed from the +hands of a child. In a queer set of outside garments that I have learned +are called "oil-skins," the crew, officers, and captain went to and fro, +trying their best to keep things straight. +</p> +<p> +In some way I knew that the brave captain was not afraid. A little pale +he was, surely, but his voice was firm as he called through a strange +fixture called the ship's trumpet. And his hands did not shake as he +tried to peer through a great glass across the rolling sea. +</p> +<p> +The sailor with the rope about him was again and again tossed and +tumbled about as he tried to make the passage across the deck, but as +often as he tried his mates would have to pull on the rope and right +him. And I still think, as I did that night, that a ship's crew, +sailors, officers, and captain, are brave, brave folk,—the bravest +Folks I know. +</p> +<p> +As the storm went crashing on, I kept thrusting myself downward, in +hopes to plunge lower than the storm circle. No use. I was upborne every +time, and after many attempts knew it would be best to simply float as I +must. +</p> +<p> +I had drifted far from the sailing-vessel, when, as I floated high on +the crest of a wave, I looked upon a pleasure-craft of some kind, riding +high upon the breakers. Men who were not regular sailors looked with +startled eyes on the terrible sea. They were calm and quiet, but from +the way they questioned the staunch skipper, and watched the men forming +the crew, I knew they carried anxious hearts, and longed to see the +waters grow calmer. +</p> +<p> +A hard fling sent me afloat again, and I had a peep inside the cabin, +where ladies with white faces and clasped hands were whispering of the +storm, and listening with fear in their eyes to the wild clamor of the +winds. +</p> +<p> +Then there was a peep beyond that showed me something that to this day +I cannot understand, but I tell it because my instincts assure me that +boy-Folks and girl-Folks in good homes with good parents will know just +what it meant. And although I am only Lord Dolphin, a great fish of the +sea, there was something about it that has comforted me, and I think +always will comfort me as long as I live. +</p> +<p> +I saw a little girl, oh, a fair little creature, with fluffy, golden +hair shading her babyish face, who was on her knees beside a white and +gilded berth. +</p> +<p> +A berth, you know, is a small bed built right against the wall in any +kind of a vessel, be it sailer, steamship, or yacht. I think this was +some rich man's yacht. +</p> +<p> +The fair little lady, then, was on her knees beside her gilded berth, +her elbows resting on the pretty white bed, eyes closed, tiny white +hands clasped, and lips moving. She surely was talking to some One, but +Who I cannot even guess. +</p> +<p> +But this much was certain: that child was not afraid. Not in the least! +She must have wakened from sleep, else she would not have been alone. +And hearing the wild storm, she had slipped from her little bed, put +herself on her knees, and raised her dear, fearless little hands and +heart—where? +</p> +<p> +Oh, surely that child had a Friend somewhere whom she trusted. How +beautiful! +</p> +<p> +They say that fishes and some other creatures are cold of blood and have +but little feeling. But I have gone far enough to think out one thing, +and it all comes of that child on her knees: if a dear mite of a woman +like that had a great, powerful Friend she could talk to in the dark, +and feel safe with in such a tempest, just as true as I am a living +Dolphin, I believe it must be some One strong enough and good enough to +care for all kinds of creatures. I do, indeed! Do you wonder it comforts +me? +</p> +<p> +It was strange that after awhile the moon came struggling through the +black and angry sky. She rode high, did Luna,—that is the moon's +name,—and was at the full, and wherever the clouds parted for a moment, +a broad streak of luminous light shone down on great mountains of water, +leaping up and up, as if eager to crush everything before them. +</p> +<p> +The wind did not soon go down, it could not; neither could I with my +utmost strength dive downwards through the piled-up, violent waves that +still rushed and roared, bounded and snapped with wild force. +</p> +<p> +Luna had sailed toward the west, and a gleam of daylight was streaking +the sky at the east, before the churning, choppy waters began leaping +less high, and once again I was tossed crest-high, where I was glad to +catch sight of a sailing-vessel that was steadying herself in the +distance, and a white yacht was skipping like a frightened but rescued +bird afar off. +</p> +<p> +I do not know whether I had been terribly afraid or not. I was not +afraid of the sea itself, it was what Folks call my "native element," +the place in which I was born, was natural to me, and I was native to +it. +</p> +<p> +But yes, I think I was afraid that the coming together of those fierce +waves might crush me as they met in their terrible strength. The noise +of such a meeting could be heard miles away. Ships have been in great +peril from them, and fish have often had the life beaten out of them in +such a sea. +</p> +<p> +Yet, naughty fellow that I was, no great harm came to me. As soon as I +saw my chance, head down I plunged, out of the harsh circle of the +storm. +</p> +<p> +Oh, the peacefulness and the restfulness of those quiet lower regions! +For far below, all strife of angry billow and raging storm was unknown, +and glad enough was I to reach my mother's side. +</p> +<p> +It may have been that my own plump sides were puffed out with the effort +I had made, and the storm's rough tossing, and my absence and the +direction I had taken all told my mother that something had gone hard +with me, and that I was glad to again be near her in the silent depths +of home. She floated with me close alongside, guided me to a restful +grove midst shimmering weeds that made a soft and silken couch, where in +the sweet stillness, lulled by the lap of gentle ripples against weed, +or shell, or bending sea-flowers, I glided off to dreamless slumber. +</p> +<p> +And the last thing I saw before slipping off to quiet sleep was a little +bright-haired child on her knees, eyes closed, hands upraised and +folded: a child that was not afraid. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER III. +</h2> + +<center> +A CORAL GROVE +</center> +<p> +Perhaps you did not know that the fishes in the sea, both large and +small, were playful creatures. Well, they are. They can frisk, frolic, +play "hide-and-seek", "catch", and race and romp at a great rate. +</p> +<p> +Now I want to tell something of our playground, and if you are surprised +at the beauty with which we are surrounded, why should you be? There +surely are lovely things on the earth for all kinds of upper-air +creatures, such as Folks, animals, birds, and insects, to enjoy. +</p> +<p> +Listen, then, while I tell about the "caverns of ocean". A cavern, you +know, is a hollow or den, and old ocean holds many a cavern or den full +of interest and beauty. But I will take you first to a kind of grove. +</p> +<p> +My home, where I spend most of my time, is in deep water. But not in the +deepest, oh, no! That is said to be two thousand fathoms down. Think of +it! More than two miles below the surface. There probably is but very +little life at that depth. But when I visit some groves, or the region +of a reef, I must first sail and sail until I reach water that is not +deep at all. +</p> +<p> +Do you think you have ever seen coral, real coral? Yes, doubtless you +have, and you may have seen it in various forms. But I feel sure you +have never seen coral to know very much about it, as you have never been +to the bottom of the sea. +</p> +<p> +Ah, here are all kinds of graceful shapes shooting up from the depths, +so singular and varied in form, that one would wonder what they are +meant to stand for. Look at these trees, perfect little trees in coral, +eight or ten feet high, with branches spreading out from the trunk. On +the branches are delicate sprays of fairylike net or lace-work, all in +white, but of various patterns. Should you get near enough, you would +see that these branches, some of which seem to bear flowers in shapes +like pinks or lilies, are dented or pitted as if tiny teeth had eaten +into them. This may be partly the work of worms. +</p> +<p> +Now, this is simply a large piece of white coral, but all around and +about are fanciful shapes, nearly as large as the one described. Here, +too, are what might be taken for thick bushes or shrubs, branching out +with sprays of fretwork, white and spotless. Then there are smaller +growths like low plants, and curiously colored, some pink, some red, +others a yellowish white. These, too, appear to bear flowers, asters, +carnations, or roses. +</p> +<p> +And for miles at a time we can rove and sport in a beautiful coral +grove. +</p> +<p> +Think of a little house, if you can, made entirely of ivory, with here +and there bright tints mingling with the white. For coral looks like +ivory when its natural roughness is smoothed and polished. Think of +swimming through little rooms, under arches, over lovely walks, through +make-believe doors, slipping past upright altars of red and white coral, +resting on spreading seats, or under outreaching canopies, or stopping +to look at another outreaching shape like the arms of candelabra or +candlestick holders. Sliding over footstools, and under culverts, all +soft and gleaming in color. Then again there are curves and passages in +which we can hide and stay hidden as long as we please. Is it not +beautiful? And all so clean and clear! +</p> +<p> +Yet there is need to take heed and be careful. These stretching shapes +and branches, these candle-holders and bushy twigs have sharp, hard +points, and bouncing against them too suddenly might severely wound a +fish, or it might slip into a crevice where it would be pricking work to +get out. +</p> +<p> +Now, what is coral. Is it alive? Does it live and breathe? It is one of +the curious, mysterious things of the ocean about which Folks have +written and studied, and the wise ones say that coral is neither insect +nor fish, but a kind of sea-animal, that lives in both deep and shallow +waters. In the beginning it appears to be a tiny sea-creature, like a +small, fleshy bag, with a mouth at one end, while with the other it +clings to some object, almost always a rock. +</p> +<p> +These little creatures are said to have the power to sting if they are +provoked. From these tiny frames there comes a hard, stony substance +that spreads and spreads as we have seen, while the part that was alive +becomes a mere dead shell. +</p> +<p> +This is the best explanation I can give about coral and the tiny +creatures from which it takes its start, and that seem so exceedingly +small to me to be called "sea-animals." But think of the wonderful +formations that grow from the bodies of these mites of creatures! Why, +there are whole reefs or chains of rocky borders along some coasts made +entirely of coral. Some of them are known as barrier reefs. +</p> +<p> +Bless you! it may be hard to believe, but a barrier reef twelve hundred +miles long runs along the coast of Australia between the Pacific and +Indian Oceans! Then there are coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, whole +platforms of solid coral which shut in portions of quiet water in some +places. +</p> +<p> +The little corals themselves do not work in deep water, nor above the +surface of the sea. But the bony substance spreads and spreads, up, +down, and across the sea. And as many shell-fish eat into coral, great +quantities of fine coral-sand sink to the bottom, making a nice white +carpet for the fishes to glide over. Folks do not take coral from the +sea at any time but during the months you call April, May, and June. +</p> +<p> +Now remember these things when you go into houses and see fine large +pieces of coral on the mantel, or it may be standing against the wall. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps you have a coral necklace of little, uneven, red, stick-like +beads. The jeweller-man can tell you how very hard it is to drill the +holes in these beads; it is like drilling through hard rock. But if you +happen to have a necklace, brooch, or bracelet of pink coral, my! you +had better take good care of it, for it must have cost a little bag of +gold. Pink coral is rare, beautiful, and very expensive. The genuine +pink-tinted is said to have sold for so great a price as five hundred +dollars for a single ounce. +</p> +<p> +Heigho! I want neither necklace, brooch, nor bracelet. For where, pray, +would Lord Dolphin wear a breastpin, or how would he look with a string +of coral beads about his neck, or a bracelet pinched about his tail? +</p> +<p> +You needn't laugh so hard. I have seen Folks who hung too much jewelry +about themselves and seemed to think it becoming. A few pieces of nice +jewelry may be tasteful and ornamental, but when too much is worn, I +have a fancy that it might make a coral mite or an oyster want to laugh. +</p> +<p> +Pretty soon I must explain why an oyster might have a right to be amused +at seeing too many gems crowded on at once. But first you must hear +something funny about coral, something so silly, too, that even a fish +is almost ashamed to tell of it; but this was true long in the past, +Folks are much wiser now. +</p> +<p> +Long years ago there were Folks who believed that wearing a "charm," +which often was a little piece of coral, perhaps made into an ornament, +would charm away harm or danger, and keep them safe from "the evil eye." +</p> +<p> +"Dear sakes!" you cry, "what was 'the evil eye'?" +</p> +<p> +Well, it is almost sad to think that any one could be so foolish, yet +when Folks know but little, they will catch up strange notions and +listen to silly signs without an atom of truth or common sense in them. +So some ignorant Folks once believed that a witch, or some witchy Folk +with an evil eye, might look upon them and cause them harm, or make them +meet some danger. +</p> +<p> +And they pretended that hanging a bit of coral somewhere about them +would keep off a look from "the evil eye," and that making children wear +a piece of it would charm away sickness and act as a medicine. Now did +you ever! +</p> +<p> +Chinese Folks and Hindoos have made most exquisite and wonderful +carvings of the coral of the Mediterranean, and there is such a thing as +black coral, also known as brain coral, but it is too brittle to be +worked upon. +</p> +<p> +Ah, who would not be a Dolphin, merry and free, whisking through deep, +still water, coasting over coral sands, and diving and sporting through +coral groves! +</p> +<p> +Nor is this the only rare and curious place through which I rove, +chasing my comrades, wandering about in search of caverns below, and +sweet music above, while forever making war on my enemy, the +flying-fish. +</p> +<p> +You see, these fish can cut through the water, reach the surface, then +really fly with finny wings across short spaces right in the air. They +think themselves smart, and are great braggarts. +</p> +<p> +One morning a flying-fish was bent on worrying me, swishing its flapping +fins directly before my face, then darting upward, sending the spray +cross-wise into my eyes. I made a snap or two at the vexing creature, +but as I missed him he became bolder, and stopped a race I was having +with one of my mates. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly I made a great leap after the flier, but up he went, up, up, +and I after him, sharp! Further up he went, and I pursued. He laughed, +fish-fashion, his big mouth sprawling way across his face as he sped +above the surface. +</p> +<p> +I poked my nose into upper air and saw which way he was going, and to my +joy he made a dip just as up went my beak again, and I had him, squeezed +securely between my jaws. +</p> +<p> +Of all the wriggling and squirming, the begging and the pleading that +ever you saw or heard! But I did not want to eat him, nor did I mean to +kill him, either. But I did mean to teach old Mister Flier a lesson, +showing it was neither wise nor in good taste to torment a fish-fellow +that was ever so much larger and stronger than himself. +</p> +<p> +So down, down I went, until I reached a cell in a coral grove, and in I +popped his Majesty, and sat down and grinned at him. My turn to show a +wide mouth now. +</p> +<p> +Did you know a fish could tremble? That fellow trembled and shook as if +he had a fishy fit when he found himself in that den, with a great +Dolphin's eye on him. Perhaps it was indeed "an evil eye" to him. He +could have slipped out and away would I only move and give him room. Oh, +no, not just yet! I lashed the water with my strong tail, and "made up +eyes" at him, I am afraid, in a truly evil way. +</p> +<p> +Then I began to feel that it was neither kind nor noble to carry my +punishment too far, so off I slowly sailed, and out from his tight +corner slid my slippery prisoner. And he tormented me no more. I did not +mean to harm him, and do not think I did, but he slipped sideways +through the water ever after that. +</p> +<p> +It must be that he jammed a fin in his haste to escape from his cubby, +but I see him often, and always with that sideways gait. I hope he is +cured forever of making of himself a pester and a plague. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/02.png" height="686" width="450" +alt="'My Turn to Show a Wide Mouth Now'"> +</center> + +<p> +I was glad to see that he still could fly, and that swift as an arrow he +could dart over and under, through and across, the thousand winding ways +of our coral groves. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IV. +</h2> + +<center> +THE MERMAID'S CAVE +</center> +<p> +As I have never been in a truly house, I cannot know of all the kinds of +carpets or coverings that Folks use on the floors. +</p> +<p> +Yet I have had peeps at very lovely carpets, as in a ship's cabin, and I +know that velvet and fine, beautiful straw, as well as other kinds of +nice carpets, must be used in what Folks call their houses. +</p> +<p> +Oh, but never has a floor of wood been covered with such wonderful +material, or covering of such marvellous workmanship, as that over which +I have roamed, and on which I have rested all my life. Yet, except in +deep waters, I will not pretend that my carpets are always very soft. +</p> +<p> +In the deeper waters that I love, there are miles and miles of soft, +blue mud, that to a Dolphin is far more luxurious and enjoyable than the +thickest of velvet or the most closely, evenly plaited straw could be. +But when, after a long, delightful journey, I visit the regions of +shallower waters, ah, the beautiful things I could bring you, were there +a tunnel, a car, or an air-shaft to convey me safely to land! +</p> +<p> +What are these shining, many-colored things I see lying about, with all +kinds of fishes sailing around and playing with, as a child plays with +blocks or cards? +</p> +<p> +Shells! all kinds and shapes, many of them rough outside but smooth and +glossy as glass inside. +</p> +<p> +What is a shell? You know the word "marine," called ma-<i>reen</i>, means +belonging to the sea, so shells are marine curiosities, for they are +always found in or near the sea. And they are really the hard, outer +covering of some sea-animal or other. +</p> +<p> +But how can I describe shells such as I have looked upon a thousand +times? You have seen some kinds, I know, but they would not even pass as +samples of the splendid shapes and tints that lie scattered around my +floor. A few Folks have made a study of the different kinds of shells +that have floated or been carried to the shore, and have been able to +tell the class of sea-animals to which they have belonged. They once +were the coats or outside garment of a swimmer or a clinger of the sea. +</p> +<p> +One day a mother-Dolphin missed her boy-Dolphin, and as he was quite a +young fellow, she felt much distressed. Away she sailed, peering amidst +the many objects covering the sea-floor. +</p> +<p> +Do you suppose it is an easy matter to find a fish that has got lost? I +caught the flying-fish because he never got far away from me. But here +was a young rascal that had gone off roaming, almost before he knew how +to feed himself, and search as she might, nowhere could his mother find +the rogue of a runaway. +</p> +<p> +If you will believe it, he was gone a week, then back he came, his eyes +as big as saucers. You see, I know how to say some things that Folks do; +by and by you will find out how I learned them. +</p> +<p> +Master Dolphy had a story to tell. He made us understand in +fish-language that he had found a wonderful, wonderful cave, where a +party of mermaids had collected a lot of shells, oh, enough to fill a +great house! +</p> +<p> +Now, I can't tell a thing as to the truth about mermaids. But "they +say," that is, Folks and fishes say, that they are strange, fascinating +creatures, with the head, shoulders, arms, and breast of a beautiful +woman, and part of the body and the tail of a fish. Sometimes they are +called sea-nymphs; others call them sirens. +</p> +<p> +Have you ever lived by the sea? And on stormy evenings, when rain was +rattling on the window-pane, and the wind went screaming around the +house, have you ever imagined there were queer calls, and have you seen +strange shapes thrown up by the waves? +</p> +<p> +Or have you ever heard an old sailor or an old fisherman tell stories of +the deep? If not, you cannot take in the kind of spell or enchantment +that lingers about the sea after listening to these sounds or hearing +these stories. They are all mixed up with the "myth" stories you heard +of a little way back. +</p> +<p> +But these stories have been told ever since the world was young. And the +mermaids are said to be daughters of the river-god that have lived ever +in the deep and sounding ocean. +</p> +<p> +And they were strange and weird—that is, wild, unnatural, and witching. +They would appear in both calm and stormy weather. +</p> +<p> +Sirens were sometimes thought to be different from mermaids, but we +fishes know them to be one and the same thing—that is, if they exist at +all. It used to be said that a mermaid murmured, but that a siren sang, +with dangerous sweetness. Both murmur and both sing, one as much as the +other. +</p> +<p> +They will all at once be seen poised on perilous rocks, their long and +splendid hair floating back in the wild wind, their eyes shining like +stars, their faces bright and glorious, their white arms and gleaming +shoulders rising like snow from midst the dark and stormy waves. +</p> +<p> +Ah! the singing, the beckoning, and the coaxing of a mermaid! Let me +tell you how they work. +</p> +<p> +They have a sly, four-legged creature on land, all dressed in fur, and +sporting a fine, thick tail, and they say that when this Madame Puss +wants to catch a bird that is wheeling in the air, she will manage to +first catch its eye. Then the little creature will not be able to look +away, but will wheel and circle, and circle and wheel, all the time +coming nearer, until, if no one frightens Madame Puss away, she will +keep her yellow eye fixed on the eye that she has caught, until the bird +flies close to her and is caught. +</p> +<p> +This is called "charming a bird." And the truth must be that poor +birdie, after catching sight of that great, shining eye, does not see +Madame Puss herself, but only the bright eye, and being unable to look +away, flies nearer and nearer the strange, glittering light, until +Madame Puss makes a spring, and all is over. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/03.png" height="721" width="450" +alt="'White Faces Seemed to Rise and Ride atop of the Foaming Billows'"> +</center> + +<p> +Just so, it is said, the sailors cannot look away from the fair, +wonderful creatures tossing their rich hair, beckoning wildly, singing +and singing with a sweetness that is not natural or earthly, until, what +with the beauty and luring, and voices of honey, the poor sailormen are +close against the rocks, and do not seem to know that they are charmed +or harmed when the waters close softly over them. +</p> +<p> +I do not know whether I have ever seen a mermaid or not. But when I took +that dangerous voyage up into the storm circle, I saw strange shapes +that I never saw before, and heard sounds that were new to my ear. Two +or three times I thought I saw streaming hair, and white faces seemed to +rise and ride atop of the foaming billows. +</p> +<p> +But when one is very much excited, will not imagination produce almost +any kind of an object that happens to come into the mind? Ah, I am +afraid so. Still, there are both Folks and fishes that believe in the +mermaids and their songs, and what am I that I should dare dispute them! +</p> +<p> +Yet—let me whisper—I have heard that Folks who do not know so very +much, will tell about "goblins," "spooks," and "catch-ums," and whenever +there is talk about the mermaids and the sirens, I think of those Folks +who believe in creatures that "never were." +</p> +<p> +But it would not do to talk in my watery home as if I had no belief in +mermaids, because, you see, as most fishes have never been with Folks, +and learned a thing or two from them, they do not know any better than +to believe in these sweet, dangerous creatures. +</p> +<p> +So, now, here came Dolphy, with flapping fins, wild eye, and his story +of a mermaid's cave. Then a party was made up to go and see the rare and +amazing place. +</p> +<p> +Well, it did look as if some creatures of surprising taste and skill had +brought together a collection of shells such as are never seen above the +surface of the sea, and formed, indeed, a cave fit for a mermaid's home. +</p> +<p> +I know little about time, but it must have been days and nights I stayed +in the enchanting place, roving hither and thither, rubbing my fins +against the soft, smooth shells, and half wondering how they really came +to be grouped together in such shining rows. +</p> +<p> +And the colors! And the shapes! Some were well-opened on the inside, and +looked as if entirely covered with pink enamel. They were of clear, +ivory white, pinkish white, pale rose, deep rose, pale yellow, or straw +color, orange yellow, blue and green mixed in glossy sheen, shades of +pink running into rich reds, purples and grayish pinks, making the fair, +sweet mother-o'-pearl. +</p> +<p> +Some were cup-shaped, having deep hollows. Should you hold your ear +fairly shut into one of these, it is said you would hear always as often +as you so held it, the roaring of the ocean. And a roaring sound you +would hear, in very truth. Yet, let me tell you! Take a common china +cup, shut your ear into it, and the same roaring will be heard. +</p> +<p> +Is that old ocean? No, it is simply the sound of your own blood coursing +through your veins. +</p> +<p> +A wide-awake Frenchman once wrote that, could you look within your own +body and see the engines pumping, the valves opening and shutting, the +pipes working, and the whole machinery in action, it would surprise and +perhaps scare you into the bargain. +</p> +<p> +We have got a little off the track, but it is well to know the facts +about these things. Now we will return to the shells. +</p> +<p> +Look at that splendid one shaped like a bowl, but with pink lips rolled +back, through which can be seen changing tints of pink and white. Here +is one that is oblong, lined with rose enamel, but having strange horns +pointing out at one side. +</p> +<p> +See that beauty, wide open and shaped like a saucer. Dear me, hold it a +little toward the light, and there gleams every color of the rainbow on +the polished surface. Here is another, striped with hair-like lines in +red, yellow, blue, and brown. There is a fan, wide open, beautifully +polished; it has no handle, but its coloring is in nearly all tints, and +changeable in the light. What a lovely thing is this heart-shaped shell, +with a line along the centre, and beautifully blending colors on either +side. There are many of these scattered around. +</p> +<p> +Now, how can I describe these singular yet perfect shapes banked up +against rocks that are completely hidden on the inside of the cave? +</p> +<p> +Over there is a funny, snarly head, with fine shreds of hair laced over +a smooth shell. Ah, what gleams of colored light shoot through the hair! +Here is a bird's nest on a bar, lying side of a wide fan, shaped like a +palm leaf; in the plaitings are curled all colors, pink, blue, yellow, +and green. +</p> +<p> +This shell is like a foot with eighteen or twenty toes, smooth, shining, +and of flesh-like tints. This is like a bat's wing, with lines and webs +finely tinted. Look at that enamelled jug with a pipe at the top. Near +by is a perfect leaf on a small branch. +</p> +<p> +Do see this worm, ringed around with dark purple stripes. Isn't it +queer? In that corner is a trumpet, splendidly colored inside. That +shape over there must be a fool's cap, one mass of sheeny tints inside. +Here are beautifully rounded little bowls, all scalloped around the top; +ah, see them glisten and change shades as the light strikes them! +</p> +<p> +See the beetle-bugs, with horns sticking out in every direction. And if +here isn't a perfect shape of a lady's slipper! The lady should wear it +inside out, so all could see its exquisite mother-o'-pearl. +</p> +<p> +Here are shells exactly like the feathery wing of a bird, and how birdie +would enjoy snuggling his soft head against the exquisite smoothness of +these shells! +</p> +<p> +Is that a large carrot split lengthwise? It looks like it, but no carrot +split along its length ever brought to light such rainbows as glint +along these. Those shells looking so much like rattles would amuse a lot +of babies if they could play in the mermaid's cave. They would try to +catch the fine colors, and might cry when they changed and changed, and +then appeared to dance away. +</p> +<p> +Those serpents, some half uncoiled, some out straight, will not bite. +Those flashes are not from dangerous eyes, but are only fine shell +tints. +</p> +<p> +Here are a lot of squat jars for holding small ornaments. They are +ornaments themselves. Are they not? And what queer combs with three +shining rows of teeth, each tooth a point of color. +</p> +<p> +Really, I might as well stop. There would be no use in trying to +describe a third of these shapes, and as to coloring, with all I have +said, you can have but a faint idea of the soft, brilliant, ever +changing hues and gleams in the mermaid's cave. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER V. +</h2> + +<center> +MY GARDENS +</center> +<p> +Long as I have talked of shells, I must say a word or two more about +shells that are used as stones. +</p> +<p> +When I was on land a little while, I noticed in front of a few houses, +walks, that I knew at a glance were made from clam-shells. So I knew +that Folks must have machines for pounding up shells. Such a beautiful, +clean, white walk as they make! +</p> +<p> +Then, before some fine-looking houses were great conch-shells, oblong +and twisted in shape, but pink and smooth inside. Many of them were +placed around lovely fountains, or urns of flowers. +</p> +<p> +But I want to tell of one very beautiful and costly kind of ornament +that is made from some conch-shells, pronounced "konk." +</p> +<p> +Romans and Greeks, but especially the Greeks, used to cut "cameos" from +the onyx-stone. And men skilled in cutting fine stones and jewels have +cut most exquisite cameos, or faces, from the kind of conch-shell that +has two layers, one dark, the other light. +</p> +<p> +The word "cameo" is said to mean one stone upon another. The "queen +conch" is a splendid shell, with two distinct layers, one white, the +other pink. Out of the white layer is carved perhaps the face of a +woman, with a crown of flowers on her head, or it may be the head of a +knight, with a helmet on. +</p> +<p> +But think of the fineness of the tools that must be used, the tiny files +and chisels in carving the lovely, delicate shells. The shell cameos +with the pink lower stone and white upper figure, are most expensive of +all; other shells have brown or black lower layers, and these are not as +choice. +</p> +<p> +But when you see your grandma or great-auntie wearing a lovely +old-fashioned breastpin, bound around with gold, and holding a pink +stone, shining like crystal, with a white carved head or other figure +standing out from the lower stone, you may know it is a very valuable +ornament, and was probably made from one of the finest shells found in +the sea. Imitations are made from porcelain, but very likely grandma's +or great-auntie's will be the real conch-shell. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps you did not know that there are fair and beautiful gardens in +my watery home. You may have picked up sprays or bunches of seaweed when +running along the beach, and some were perhaps quite pretty, while +others had turned brown and looked much like leather. +</p> +<p> +Would you like to come with Lord Dolphin and take a swim through an +ocean garden? You would doubtless see such a sight as you had never +dreamed could be seen down in the blue water. +</p> +<p> +All right, I'll turn into a fairy godfather, clap you on to my back, +give you the lungs of a mermaid, to prevent your choking in the water, +and then, come on! Or, rather, I should say, come down! +</p> +<p> +"Why, why! A fairylike scene indeed!" you cry. +</p> +<p> +Now you have not taken on "the evil eye" in coming to the bottom of the +sea, but you have taken a "fish eye." Folks usually hate fishy eyes, but +no matter, you couldn't see the first thing down here with your own +natural peepers, so be thankful that for a time you can see with eyes +like mine. +</p> +<p> +Now, this is not a coral grove, it is a garden of flowers, and when you +exclaim again, "Oh, but I had no idea of this!" I should have to reply, +"Of course you hadn't; no more had I of the strange and beautiful +things on the land, until I had to live there a little while." +</p> +<p> +Folks call these flowers, such as they have seen of them, weeds, +seaweeds. And I suppose they have to come under that name, as they are +not planted from seeds, but are a wild growth. Ah, but some great +Planter or Gardener surely put all these wonderful shapes and splendid +tints in the soft earth of a sea-garden. And it is all so blithe and +gay! +</p> +<p> +Here are nearly all the shapes in bushes and almost trees that you have +in your garden on land. And as to flowers, there are leaves, spires, +cups, bells, tassels, very much such as you see in your garden at home. +</p> +<p> +See these beautiful crimson leaves, as large as the top of a small +table, and cut in such fine, even scallops around the edges, and here is +one with a great pad of yellow right on the crimson. My! My! is it not +colored richly? +</p> +<p> +Here are leaves shooting out like rafts, thick, like the leaves of a +rubber-tree, but larger and of a deep red. You might take a sail on one +of them. And here is a bush, shooting upright from its muddy bed, all +covered with pink sprays, on which are pink blossoms. Doesn't it make +you think of a syringa bush? Only these flowers are pink. +</p> +<p> +Next comes this plant with a large olive green stem covered thickly +with branches, bearing flowers resembling pink roses. Were this plant +taken to the church some Sunday morning and placed on the pulpit-stand, +you may believe that after the service Folks would go crowding about the +altar, eager to find out its name and whence it came. +</p> +<p> +What a clucking of surprise there would be when it was told that not +from any hothouse whatever, but from the depths of the ocean came the +full, lovely sea-roses. +</p> +<p> +Are these sprays of pink coral? No, they are sea-rods and branches. If +you pinch the thick stems, water will ooze out, for they are partly +hollow, like the pond-lily stem. +</p> +<p> +I do not wonder you look with questioning surprise at that next plant. +It is like a mass of purple bushes, a very sweet growth rather hard to +describe. All through the delicate branches are what look like small +dark berries, seen through a mist of pinkish, hairy spires. +</p> +<p> +Don't start. These merry fishes darting through the next clump of bushes +have only come to smell of the carnation pinks the bushes bear. Are they +not strangely like your garden carnations? +</p> +<p> +See the fishes nip at those singular pink flowers with a thick fringe +hanging from the edges. It is a shame to spoil them, but some fishes +always seem to think that graceful fringe droops down on purpose for +them to peck at. +</p> +<p> +Now if the baby were only here, you could seat him on these broad, flat +leaves, with delicate spires all along the edges, and all of so deep a +crimson they surely would attract any child. +</p> +<p> +What a queer flower! like the backbone of a fish with all the little +bones at the side standing out stiff and pointed, and all in pinks and +purples. +</p> +<p> +Right in the midst of another plot of thick, flat leaves rises a mass of +pink sea-lilies, and they are beautiful; but do examine the next bed of +leaves. Are they not curious? A thick, hollow-looking stem goes through +the middle of them, and on one side of the stem they are a deep pink, on +the other side, yellow. +</p> +<p> +Here are flowers shaped like horns and trumpets. What a forest of pinks, +greens, and yellows! And here are the greens. Such greens as you have +never seen before. +</p> +<p> +Now suppose you were going to have a party. What decorations you could +have if only the ocean blooms would keep fresh for you to use. There +would be masses of fine furze that would be perfectly beautiful to crowd +over the pictures; silky threads that, placed on creeping green plants, +would look lovely carried along the table; yellow flowers in the midst +of masses of fine sea-mosses, and sea-ferns would make your little mates +wonder where the fresh, strange things grew. +</p> +<p> +And there could he yards and yards of ribbons. Ribbons? Yes, long, long +sprays of yellowish green sea-ribbon, four or five inches wide, going +down to narrower ones not more than an inch in width. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps you would like some sea-thistles. Here they are, in thick +bunches, fine and hairy, in faint, fair shades of green. And what can +this be that looks so much like a sponge? Ah, it is a tuft of moss with +green spires shooting up in the middle. +</p> +<p> +Take care! Here are bunches of cactus with prickly leaves. Look out! +don't catch your toe in those sea-ferns. Even that sweet green +maiden-hair fern might pin down your foot so firmly that it would take a +fish's sharp tooth to set you free. +</p> +<p> +You may ask, why are not these beautifully colored and curiously shaped +things brought on shore and sold, as they might be, for much money? And +why are they not at least put where Folks can see, learn about them, and +admire them? +</p> +<p> +But wait a moment; what would be the effect if any one took a bunch of +your garden roses, pinks, or lilies, put them under water, and kept them +there? They would very soon be a drooping, shapeless mass. They are +formed for a different element, and could not nourish under water, +especially salt water. +</p> +<p> +Just so ocean-flowers, and sea-tints can only live in their own element, +which is not air, but water. And the faces on our water-pansies—for we +have them—would soon fade in what to them would be lifeless air, just +as the garden pansies would lose their bright faces in the salt sea. +</p> +<p> +Great quantities of seaweeds float ashore and are often dried and used +as fuel, or perhaps are put around garden plants to make them grow. +</p> +<p> +But nothing that grows on the land, or in the water, can exchange places +one with the other and keep alive. It is all very curious, and more than +I can understand. Yet every creature and every plant is fitted to the +place it grows in, and is natural to it. The food, the flowers, and the +land for the use of Folks, and the food, the plants, and the water for +the use of fishes, are just what the nature of each requires. What +wisdom! +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VI. +</h2> + +<center> +MY TREASURE GROUNDS +</center> +<p> +Are you tired? No? Well, that is no great wonder. It is ever so much +easier to glide through the water on the broad back of a great fish than +to ride horseback, or in a car. +</p> +<p> +My sails or fins flap quietly to and fro, the water parts readily to +make us a path, no rough winds blow away your hat, there is no danger +way down here that a boat will bang against us, and roll you off into a +cavern or a cave. +</p> +<p> +Now I am taking you into deeper water, which still is not so very deep, +but I want to show you some other strange things in the world I live in. +</p> +<p> +Here we go sailing in and out of rocks, but do not be alarmed, I know +them all. Perhaps you wonder what it is that we keep pressing against, +something soft and smooth that sends extra sprays of water over us. What +can it be? +</p> +<p> +Well, now, put on your thinking-cap. What does your mother wash the +baby with? What does Michael wash the carriage with? And what is that +object in the wire holder in the bath-tub? +</p> +<p> +"Ah, a sponge!" you exclaim. Yes, and here is where they grow. "What, +sponges grow?" you ask. Certainly. And just as with the coral, it took +Folks a long time to find out whether sponges were plants, shrubs, or +insects. +</p> +<p> +Now it is decided that the sponge is an animal growth. And the same as +with coral, the tiny creature that it starts from dies, and out from the +skeleton, or frame, branches the sponge that sometimes grows very large, +and sometimes is of a kind that remains small. One may be as big as a +mop, others no larger than an egg. +</p> +<p> +Down in the blue Mediterranean Sea are found the best sponges that grow. +They are called "horny sponges," and grow in great masses, fine, yet +tough and durable. A sponge from the Mediterranean, called the "Turkey +sponge," will cost three times as much as a coarser, more brittle one +from other waters. They are porous, or full of little holes and hollows. +</p> +<p> +We fishes like to bang against the sponges and feel the sudden spray +dash over us. Water we have all around and about us, but a shower-bath +is not as common a thing. +</p> +<p> +When you buy a sponge, it is round, flat, or cone-shaped. Now see what +they look like under water. Here is a little tree, you say. Oh, no, it +is only a mass of sponges piled together and branching out as they grow. +</p> +<p> +Here are fans, arches, tiny caves, and many different shapes forming a +sponge-garden. Queer, isn't it? Oh, lots of things are queer until you +learn about them. +</p> +<p> +Would you like to see how I wash myself? Don't laugh so loud, you might +scare the fishes. I know very well that it seems to you as if I was +washing or bathing all the time, but there! Some kind of a water-bug has +plumped right down onto my head, and left a lot of sticky sand on it, +that the water does not wash away. +</p> +<p> +Now don't be alarmed. I won't let you be swept from my back. I am only +going to wash my head. See me swim directly under this mass of sponge, +swaying out from a rock. There will be no bits of sand clinging to me +after I have been sponged a few moments. +</p> +<p> +Here is a sponge that looks as if almost as large as your sun when it +rises out of the water, but if you squeeze that fellow dry—the sponge, +not the sun—it will not begin to be the size it is now. You could press +it into a bowl of moderate size when dry, but then take it to the pump +or the faucet, fill it with water, and my, what a balloon! +</p> +<p> +Sponges were once called "worm-nests," and were thought to be a mere +kind of seaweed. But looked at under the sea, it would be known at once +that they are neither nest nor weed. +</p> +<p> +Once in awhile sponges seem to spring directly up from the mud without +anything to cling to, but generally they are fastened to rocks or large +stones, and spread out and out from them. Here they look so much like a +kind of herb, that Folks who make a study of things in nature, and are +called naturalists, for a long time took them to be a kind of sea-plant, +and for years it was a puzzle as to just what they were. +</p> +<p> +All are full of pores or layers of small cells, and some are quite +pretty from having a fringe about the cells like eyelashes. There are +others curiously shaped, looking like coral sprays, and here and there +they look like helmets; then there is another form that seems to have +long fingers running out, and is called "mermaid's gloves." +</p> +<p> +The form called "Venus flower-basket," large and basket-shaped, might +answer for a mermaid's work-basket, and hold her thimble, scissors, and +thread. You had better take care! A mermaid may be near this very +moment, and hear you laughing. And remember, she could spin you round +from one end of the sea to another, then leave you high and dry on a big +rock in the middle of the ocean. +</p> +<p> +Now, on what do sponges feed? Dear sakes, as if they fed on anything! +Yet they do. Although they branch and bunch out in the forms described, +yet they do not roam about, but only float or swim out as far as they +can stretch themselves while firmly fastened to a rock. Here they take +in specks or particles that float through the water; they pass through +the open pores of the body, and answer for food. The water constantly +passing through them serves to refresh and keep them round and healthy. +</p> +<p> +Here we come to a perfect thicket of sponges, and see the fishes playing +"tag" all around and about them. There! that sly little fish, like a +salt water pickerel, nipped the tail of that great clumsy +porpoise—porpus—so hard, I heard the big fish grunt. The teeth of a +pickerel are fearfully long and sharp. +</p> +<p> +Oh! Oh! What is that most beautiful thing we see shining with a faint, +sweet glow, down at the bottom of the sea? It is in plain sight, nestled +in the heart of a conch-shell. It is round, has a milk-like murkiness, +yet pinky, changing lights like tiny stars, that glint and gleam as you +look upon it. +</p> +<p> +Now believe me! Of all the treasures of the sea I have told you of or +shown you, this is far and away the most precious. +</p> +<p> +It is a pearl. Only once in a great while will so perfect and so +valuable a gem be found near my deep water home. And although we are not +so very far east, yet it would be called an "Orient," or an "Eastern +pearl." +</p> +<p> +Perhaps it has floated in its polished pink bed from a far eastern sea. +I told you a little while ago that I must explain what an oyster had to +do with Folks that sported too many jewels, and why it might be amused +at the sight. +</p> +<p> +Did you know that inside of an oyster-shell grew the lovely, costly +pearls that Folks will give a great deal of money for? Why, Queen +Victoria of England had a Scotch pearl that cost two hundred dollars. +Queens and princes, rich Folks, jewellers, and dealers in precious +stones, will give great sums of money for necklaces, brooches, or rings +that have in them the precious Oriental pearls. +</p> +<p> +I had to listen very hard to find out what I did about pearls. But I +found that they have been known, talked of, and written about, almost +ever since the beginning of the world. +</p> +<p> +Oyster-beds are generally much nearer the shore than most kinds of +shells. It is said to be when an oyster gets restless or uneasy that a +strange substance enters the edge of the shell, and after a time a pearl +is formed. And while many pearls are found in oyster-shells, they also +are often found fastened to the pink bosom of a conch-shell. +</p> +<p> +There are black pearls of much value, but though rare, they are never +half as beautiful as a white or pink one. Some pink pearls are very +lovely, and when large-sized, are also very expensive. +</p> +<p> +The pearl we see lying here is a splendid white one, and my! the money +it would bring! Pick up that shell, carry it with you to a jeweller, and +see the dollars the fair round gem will bring to your purse. You could +buy yourself beautiful clothes, or a pony, or could have with it a fine +party, flowers, favors, treat and all. +</p> +<p> +What? Don't dare to? Oh, me, me, what a little coward! I can't pick it +up very well. If I took it in my mouth, down my throat it would go. If I +tried to catch it up with a fin, over into the water it would bounce. +</p> +<p> +Never mind. Look at the sweetly beautiful conch-shell, with the +splendid gem resting so softly on its pink, polished side. And let me +tell you what I think. +</p> +<p> +The opinion of a fish, even a great lordly one, may not be worth much, +but to me that exquisitely lovely stone, reposing on that exquisitely +lovely shell, is a far more beautiful thing to look upon than the jewel +ever could be when fitted into the costliest setting of gold. +</p> +<p> +Now it is just as it was made, and I think that Whoever formed and set +that pearl knew more about real beauty and fitness, and what is simple, +natural, and very beautiful, than all the Folks and jewellers in the +world. +</p> +<p> +Look at that white splendor. Don't you agree with me? +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VII. +</h2> + +<center> +WHAT I SAW ONE DAY +</center> +<p> +Now I do not know how brave an English lord may be or how much it may +take to scare him, but I, Lord Dolphin, inhabitant of the great +Mediterranean Sea, was scared nearly out of my wits and skin by the +sight I saw one day. +</p> +<p> +But there is this to comfort me: if I was a coward at the sight, there +were plenty of other creatures in the sea to keep me company. Mercy on +us! Such a scuttling and rushing, such a whisking and a whacking, flying +and plunging, I for one never saw before. There was actually a chorus of +flapping fins and thumping tails as we raced for our lives. +</p> +<p> +Was it a steam-engine or a monster boiler that was coming right down +from upper regions into our midst? Or, had some new sea-monster fallen +from the skies to drive us from our hunting and fishing grounds? +</p> +<p> +We knew something about sea-lions, the huge creature that you may have +seen at the Zoo, or in a tank at the park, lifting itself like an +enormous sea-horse, and roaring like the animal whose name it bears. But +a sea-lion would not have cut through the water from way above. It would +have come steering along like a great black vessel, puffing and blowing, +while all the time it would have been a creature of the sea, and we +should have known it, and not have been so terrified. +</p> +<p> +Or, had a whale come bearing down from upper waters, as they sometimes +do, there would have been a disturbance first, made by the spouting and +slashing that our instinct at once would have told us came from some +monster of the deep. +</p> +<p> +Or, again, had it been the hulk of a vessel that could not stand some +violent storm, oh, yes, we should have known what that was, too. But +now, off tore the fishes, mad with terror, big fishes, little fishes, +fat fellows, lean fellows, pleasant ones, and grumblers. +</p> +<p> +I laughed, yes, with all my fright I had to laugh at such a funny sight. +I was behind what Folks call "whole schools of fishes," only they speak +of "a school of fish," meaning many of one kind, but the madcap crowd I +looked upon was made up of almost every size and sort. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/04.png" height="697" width="450" +alt="'Off Tore the Fishes, Mad With Terror'"> +</center> + +<p> +I saw a porpoise—porpus—my enormous cousin, all of fifteen feet +long, crowd in midst a multitude of swift little swimmers, as if he +meant to make them help in spinning him through the water faster than he +could go by himself. Then on the back of another Dolphin, I saw a crowd +of little fishes that seemed so stiff with fear, they had been knowing +enough to cling to the back of the great fish, making a boat of him to +bear them to a place of safety. +</p> +<p> +Paddling sideways, I caught a glimpse of the flying-fish that had been +my tormentor. All at once I stopped short. +</p> +<p> +Now they say that some Folks are very curious. I do not mean that they +are odd or amusing to look at. But they have curiosity, and want to peer +and pry into things. It is not at all nice to want to find out all about +other Folks' affairs. It belongs to a poor, mean nature to want to do +that. But to want to inquire into matters for the sake of getting true +knowledge is right and worthy even for a fish. +</p> +<p> +And suddenly I had determined to see just what that amazing creature +could be. If it caught and swallowed me alive, it might, but—it would +take a pretty big swallow to make away with Lord Dolphin. I confess to +going to work very much like a sneak. But it was quite easy, seeing all +the other fishes had made off and left me a clear field, to hide midst a +bed of tall sea-bushes. +</p> +<p> +So, very gently back I paddled, with motion slow and noiseless, to the +region where the monster had come down. +</p> +<p> +How shall I describe it? In the first place, I had never seen such a +shape before. The time when I was borne aloft on high waves, and looked +into a ship's cabin, I saw forms something like unto this one in some +respects, but, dear sakes, not with such hideous parts! But now, to name +at once and describe afterwards,— +</p> +<p> +It was a <i>diver</i>! +</p> +<p> +The diver belongs to the Folks family, but, bless us, his rig! Imagine, +if you can, a black object, with a great bunchy machine of a head, and +for the rest, a mass of fixtures, such as would puzzle a far more stupid +creature than a Dolphin to make out. +</p> +<p> +I have seen a diver many times since then, and am now able to tell a +little about the fantastic-looking being. Of course, there is very much +more to be known, but if you remember what I say, it will give you some +idea of a diver's outfit that may linger in your mind, to be added to as +you grow older. +</p> +<p> +First, then, close to his skin are warm woollen garments, sometimes two +or even three sets of them. If the weather is cold, he may have on two +or three pairs of warm stockings. How would you like being bundled up in +that way? Yet that is only the beginning. +</p> +<p> +Close to his head is a woollen cap coming down over his ears. Thick +shoulder-pads keep his outside suit from grazing or hurting, and it may +be that other pads are about his body. He next goes into an outside suit +of India rubber, covered both inside and outside with a tanned twill +which is water-proof, and the rubber itself has been treated in a way to +make it very hard and lasting. There is a double collar about the neck, +of tough, sheet rubber, and one is to draw well up about the neck. +</p> +<p> +He must have assistance in getting into these rigid clothes, for it is +hard working the arms into the stiff sleeves, and forcing the hands +through cuffs which are made to expand or let out as they are drawn on, +then close tight in some odd way with rubber rings and joints at the +wrist, making the sleeves perfectly air tight. +</p> +<p> +Great care is taken in dressing the diver. Everything must fit +perfectly, every screw must be properly wound in, every strap and buckle +made fast, or the poor diver may be in great danger. His breastplate of +copper is fastened on with metal clasps or bolts. A fixture at his back +steadies the weights both back and front, weighing forty pounds each. +These weights, it must be, are in some way supported by the ropes with +which they let him down. +</p> +<p> +Such boots! Stout leather, with soles of lead, securely strapped on, and +weighing at least twenty pounds each. A band fitted about his waist is +kept in place by strong braces. +</p> +<p> +Then his helmet! Tinned copper, and full of screws, pipes, and hooks. On +the face part were three openings as in a lantern, in which were screwed +plate-glasses, or bull's-eyes. These, of course, were to see through, +and stood out like little telescopes, or half-tumblers, with brass +frames around them called "guards" which protect the glass, that is +thick and strong. +</p> +<p> +There were also queer valves, or tubes, in the helmet for letting out +bad air, yet so contrived that no water could get in. A hook was on +either side, through which ropes must pass. +</p> +<p> +The diver can breathe while under water by means of an air-pipe, and by +pulling on a life-line, can make his wants known to those above. +</p> +<p> +When the diver is all ready to descend, a man at the pump begins +supplying him with air, and down he goes, first on an iron ladder at +the vessel's side, then on long ladders of rope, with heavy weights at +the ends. +</p> +<p> +I peeped from midst great weed-pads, and saw the diver as he reached the +bottom of the sea. Do you wonder I trembled, yet was amused at what I +saw? In his hands this time—for I saw him more than once after +this—was a great hook and a light bag with a wide-open mouth. And what +do you think? He had come to get sponges from the blue sea. Of course +not at very great depth. +</p> +<p> +He knew his work. With the long hook, sponge after sponge was torn from +its clung-to home on the slippery rocks, and quickly popped into the +bag. He always moved backwards. If anything stopped him, rock, wreck, or +floating weeds, he could turn slowly and carefully around, and see what +it was. But should he meet an object suddenly at the fore, it might +break even his shielded glass. Then he must immediately give the signal +to be raised aloft. +</p> +<p> +Divers must begin by going down only a little way under the water, as it +takes great skill and long practice to be able to go safely into deep +water. A diver has about him a coil of line connected with the ladder, +which he unwinds as he moves away; but by winding it about him again, +he can find his way back to the ladder. +</p> +<p> +If two divers go down at the same time, I notice they take great care +not to let their air-lines or life-lines cross each other's, and so get +entangled. It might be a very serious affair to get them mixed. +</p> +<p> +I see that divers may go down from either a barge, a sailing vessel, or +a large yacht, but there must be a deck that can hold the necessary +machines and rigging to help them in their work. By casting down heavy +pieces of lead, the sailor-Folk can "sound," or tell the distance to the +bottom of the sea. The diver's line must always be twice the length of +the distance he goes down. +</p> +<p> +I did not find this all out at once. Oh, by no means, but by not running +away I gradually learned a great deal. And I was so glad I saw the queer +performance! The frightened fishes were not quick to come back to their +playground, where such a looking object had come swinging down, and when +he came again the next day, and the next, I had the place to myself, and +watched while he pretty well cleared that region of its fine, valuable +sponges. +</p> +<p> +The next time I saw a diver it was in deeper water. I was sporting to +and fro at another time when there was just such a panic among the +fishes as I had seen before, and just such a scramble. +</p> +<p> +Down, down came the fearsome looking object, while I mixed myself in +with a mass of sea-flowers, and keeping perfectly still, was not +noticed. The diver's dress was much the same as the other's had been; he +went backwards in the same cautious way, but instead of a long-handled +hook, he carried only a queer bag that was let down to him by ropes. +</p> +<p> +The bag was deep, and had a frame along the top, with a scraper fastened +to it. And what do you think again? He began scraping in all the +conch-shells he could see that had what looked like a dab of mud or a +milky spot on the side. +</p> +<p> +He was after pearls! +</p> +<p> +Divers often fish for pearls midst oyster-beds, and in more shallow +water, but there are nets or dredgers also used for that purpose. But I +at once knew that very valuable pearls must often be found in +conch-shells and deep-sea oyster-shells, as the diver scraped in all of +both that he could find. +</p> +<p> +Remember! All kinds of shell-fish are called "mollusca," have white +blood, and breathe not only in the water, but also in the air. +</p> +<p> +And will you believe it? I have found out considerable about the signals +that a diver gives to the man at the pump on deck. +</p> +<p> +If he wants to be pulled up, be gives the life-line four sharp pulls. +If he wants more air, he gives one pull at the air-pipe. Two pulls on +the life-line, and two pulls on the air-pipe, given quickly one after +the other, mean that he is in trouble, and wants the help of another +diver. One pull on the life-line means "all right." +</p> +<p> +There are many other signals I could not find out the meaning of, so can +say nothing about. My instincts, as well as what I have noticed, tell me +that a diver must be in the best of health, must be rather thin, have +excellent eyesight, sound lungs, steady nerves, and a strong heart. The +work is not easy. I wonder if work that pays well is often easy? I do +not believe it is. +</p> +<p> +There used to be a strange machine in use called the "diving-bell." A +great cast-iron cage, shaped something like a bell, let down by ropes, +and so heavy that its own weight would sink it. Divers could sit inside, +and fresh air was supplied by a force-pump. Bull's-eyes of heavy glass +let in the light. +</p> +<p> +This must have frightened the fishes quite as much as did the diver, +although it was not as frightful in appearance. +</p> +<p> +After a time, when the diver came down, some of my mates, seeing I was +not a bit afraid if only hidden from sight myself, stayed near me under +the broad seaweeds, but most of them fled far and wide at his approach. +</p> +<p> +The divers themselves are not free from danger. Great sea-serpents or +sharks sometimes make it hot for them, but they are watchful, spry, and +being "Folks," with power to think and plan, can generally look out for +themselves and their safety. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER VIII. +</h2> + +<center> +MY STRANGE ADVENTURE +</center> +<p> +Now come the most exciting and in some respects the hardest events of my +life thus far. +</p> +<p> +I have told of my great love of music, and have also said that the +Dolphin family is a very sociable one. Yes, and I could grow fond of +Folks, I know, if only they could live in the sea, or I could live on +the land. But as neither of these things can be, I must be content with +liking them at a distance. +</p> +<p> +One afternoon I was full of sport, and felt lively as a cricket. Oh, +yes, I know the small, frisky fellow you call a cricket, with his little +old black legs, and have heard him sing. So on this calm and lovely +afternoon I began leaping upward instead of forward, and all at once I +heard sounds of music floating across the upper sea. You can believe I +floundered alongside, and oh, such sweetness as trilled out into the +clear air! +</p> +<p> +The truth was, a great steamer was crossing the Mediterranean with a +pleasure party on board. What I heard was the music of a brass band. My! +My! Isn't it enough to delight the heart of any creature that has ears +to hear? It actually would make a fish dance. +</p> +<p> +Now I didn't know it, but I made such plunges upward that my great dark +body could be seen in the clear water, and some sailors began "laying" +for me, half suspecting what might happen. +</p> +<p> +Well-a-well, I got so full of music, joy, and friskiness, that all at +once I gave a tremendous jump, and flounced right on to the deck of the +fine steamer. Had I not been so utterly surprised, I should immediately +have flounced back again to my ocean bed "quick shot," as I afterward +heard a sailor say. But dear, deary me! I hesitated just a moment too +long, and when I made a flop intending to bounce away, lo! a stout rope +was about my body, and another about my tail, and I was a prisoner! +</p> +<p> +Then the Folks all gathered about me, and the sailors went laughing off, +saying something about "making the fellow's bed." +</p> +<p> +Oh, it was all very strange and unnatural. And in a few moments I began +panting for breath. Just as you would gasp, if by accident you popped +over from a boat into the water. Only you would gasp for want of air, +and I was gasping from too much of it. +</p> +<p> +But it was not long before I was taken to a side of the vessel, and +after straining and tugging with my great weight, I was indeed bounced +into water, but when I tried to swim, oh, misery! what kind of a place +was I in? +</p> +<p> +Only a tank, some twenty feet long by fifteen feet wide, filled with sea +water! +</p> +<p> +Truth was, there was a man-Folk on board who had caught, and wanted to +carry to a great park in some far-distant land, a crocodile. Boo! a +great sea-reptile that I wonder any one should want to have around, even +as a curiosity. It had been taken from the river Nile in Egypt, much +farther up the Mediterranean borders than I had ever been. +</p> +<p> +The crocodile did not live, so I was put into its tank, and that was the +"bed" the sailors had made, by filling it with salt water. Shade of my +royal grandfathers! how long I could live in such pinching quarters was +a question. +</p> +<p> +I was given plenty of herring—so called—and other kinds of fish to +eat, and "Folks" visited me about every hour of the day. There were +children on the steamer, pretty little dears, that never tired of +talking to me, and between them all, passengers, sailors, and the +children, I learned how Folks talked, and a great many other things +besides. +</p> +<p> +One fine, manly little fellow visited me constantly. He was voyaging for +his health, and took much pleasure in sitting beside the tank, book in +hand, yet watching my movements, and once he said something that made me +wish I could talk in the language of Folks. Yet before I tell what it +was, I want to say that there was one thing I did not like at all, but +was not able to let the Folks know it. +</p> +<p> +The sailors called me "Dolly!" A great name to give a lord of the sea, a +fellow bearing the title I owned! +</p> +<p> +The next morning after my capture, a really fine Jack—sailors are all +"Jack," you know—came rolling toward my tank, and sang out in +sea-breezy fashion: +</p> +<p> +"Hulloo, Dolly-me-dear, how do you find yourself to-day?" +</p> +<p> +I liked his hearty manner and cheery voice, but, dear me, I was "Dolly" +to every man-Jack on board after that, and to all the others as well. +</p> +<p> +So this dear little man once said to me: +</p> +<p> +"Oh, Dolly, how I wish you could tell me about things under the sea! I +know if you could only talk my way, you could tell stories by the hour, +and what pleasure it would be to listen." +</p> +<p> +"Stories, indeed, my pretty," I thought, and I did wish I could open my +wide mouth and entertain the little fellow with a few sea yarns. And now +that in some way I can make Folks understand me, I only hope that my +young steamer friend, among others, will see and enjoy Lord Dolphin's +story. +</p> +<p> +Then the lady-Folks were fine, with their pretty dresses, nice manners, +and soft voices. But I did so like the children! One cute little nymph +of a girl was crazy to get near me, yet nearly scared to pieces if I so +much as looked at her. Oh, she was so fair to see, with her golden hair +flying back in the breeze, eyes blue as the sky, and her sweet, dimpled +face full of smiles! +</p> +<p> +She would come running up to the tank with a great show of courage, +crying bravely: "Hi, old Mister Dolly! I'se goin' a-put your great eye +out!" But when the eye half-looked at her, off she would scud, and all I +could see was a mass of flying yellow hair, a whisking of snowy skirts, +and my little nymph was gone. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/05.png" height="710" width="450" +alt="'One Cute Little Nymph of a Girl Was Crazy to Get Near Me'"> +</center> + +<p> +A dozen times a day she would appear, and as long as I remained under +water, she would hover near. There was a railing around the tank, which +was sunk in, lower than the deck, so she could not fall in, nor could I +possibly get out, but as soon as my head began rearing above the water, +scoot! little Amy was missing. +</p> +<p> +We had no hard storm while steaming over the bright Mediterranean. But +one day the little man, whose name was Roland, said to wee Amy: +</p> +<p> +"Clear day, isn't it?" +</p> +<p> +And Amy replied, woman-fashion, "Yes, booful day, but what sood you do +if there comed a big storm, and we all went ricketty, rockerty, and +couldn't stand up single minute? Wouldn't you be 'fraid?" +</p> +<p> +"N-o," said Roland, speaking slowly and thoughtfully, "I don't think I +should be much afraid, but I should want to keep quiet and think. What +should you do?" and he smiled. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, me would say my prayers, and keep a-sayin' them," said the child, +soberly, then she added, "and up would go my prayers into the sky, and +so I needn't be frightened a bit." +</p> +<p> +Now I don't know in the least what "prayers" mean, but I remembered at +once what that other child had done in the storm, and it made me think +that the Friend the other little girl trusted lives up in the sky, and +can hear when Folks tell that they need help. How lovely! Really, Folks +ought to be very thankful for all they know! +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER IX. +</h2> + +<center> +LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND +</center> +<p> +Well, we sailed and we sailed, but it was poor sailing for me, and every +hour I longed to make a monster jump, clear the railing, and splash into +the splendid bed beneath the cooped-up tank. +</p> +<p> +But Folks know how to make things strong and secure, and once or twice, +when I tried leaping, it was only to bang my sides against the edges of +the tank, and spatter the deck far and wide, making extra work for the +sailors. +</p> +<p> +After a time, we ran through what Jack called "the Strait of Gibraltar," +and were in the great Atlantic Ocean, and one day Jack said to me: +</p> +<p> +"Now then, me hearty, we're making a bee-line for New York City, and +it's a big tub they'll be giving you at the fine park, I'm thinking." +</p> +<p> +So I knew I was to take the place of the crocodile, and be made a show +of. +</p> +<p> +I tried to make the best of things. Folks amused me by standing near +the tank and talking about affairs. The band played delightfully. Salt +water was freshly supplied me every day or two. I learned that my fare +was much greater than any other voyager's on board, that is, it cost +more to carry me. +</p> +<p> +But think of a passenger that would have been perfectly thankful to have +been thrown overboard! I was that same fellow. +</p> +<p> +After about ten days, which seemed like a year to me, there was great +excitement all around. Such a running and tramping, such a waving of +hats and handkerchiefs. Ah! we were landing. Roland came to my side and +exclaimed: +</p> +<p> +"Good-by, Dolly, old boy! I may see you sometime in your new quarters." +Little Amy lisped a hurried, "By, by, Dolly, good Fishy!" and after an +hour or two, all the passengers had left the boat except the man who +owned me and myself. +</p> +<p> +Nor was I moved until the next day. Then I was made to swim into a +smaller tank, not much longer than I am, in which I could not have +lived, it seemed to me, a single day. +</p> + +<!-- NOTE: Remove center tags and put align="left" or align="right" for text wrapped alignments --> + +<a name="image-6"><!-- Image 6 --></a> +<center> +<img src="./images/06.png" height="698" width="450" +alt="'I Was Given My First Ride on Land'"> +</center> + +<p> +But I was next boosted, tank and all, on to a great dray, drawn by +creatures called "horses." Sailors joked, drivers laughed, a crowd +peered at me with eyes full of wonder, and I was given my first ride +<i>on land</i>, yet in what to me was a mere puddle of water. +</p> +<p> +Ah, how new and strange! The jolting and the bouncing, the noise, the +whistles, the voices, rattling of heavy wagons, booming of cars overhead +and along the ground, strange calls and ringing of bells, the whole +mixed racket nearly stunning me, for my hearing is very acute and sharp. +I cannot tell you how distracting it all was to a poor, pent-up fish. I +felt like anything but a "lord" then. +</p> +<p> +And what was this unknown matter floating into my squeezed-up basin? +Dust! Something I had never seen before, and—I didn't like it! +</p> +<p> +The sea for me, first, last, and forever! +</p> +<p> +At the park I must say things were fine, and could they only have been +more natural, I should have had considerable fun. I found that a Dolphin +on land, although kept in a small square pond, was indeed quite a +curiosity, both to young Folks and older ones. +</p> +<p> +I imagine that a quantity of coarse salt was thrown every little while +into the larger space now given me, else I could scarcely have lived. +But my keepers were attentive and kind, the young Folks threw me many +kinds of strange food, and "Bless my lights!" as Jack would say, what +kind of things do Folks live on! +</p> +<p> +Great quantities of little oblong balls, snapped out of a shell, +different from any kind of shell I had ever seen before, were thrown me +nearly every hour of the day. Oh, yes, they were called "peanuts." +Really, I liked them, only it took about a hundred to get enough to chew +on. +</p> +<p> +Then there were white things, making me think of some small shells, as +there were peeps of yellow inside. Ah, I remember again, they were named +"popcorn." I preferred the peanuts. +</p> +<p> +I didn't know what to think of "taffy." Jinks! how it stuck to a +fellow's jaws! Bah! the whole lot of stuff called "candy" was too sweet +and sticky. +</p> +<p> +Some jolly-looking people that came to the park for what they called a +"picnic," tossed me queer food named "doughnuts," and "ginger-snaps." +Yes, I liked them, too, particularly the snaps. Then there was an +everlasting fruit named "banana" that I liked at first, it was so soft +and slipped down so easily, but I had too much of it, and grew tired of +it. +</p> +<p> +I grew tame, would raise my great head close to the strong wire-netting, +and over would come all kinds of what Folks call "treats." Once, +however, a man-Folk threw me part of a small round, dark roll or stick, +such as men-Folks put in their mouths at one end, and send out smoke +from the other end. +</p> +<p> +Boo, bumaloo, what stuff! bitter and horrid! Men-Folks must have a queer +taste to enjoy tasting and smoking such black, weedy things. One taste +of a "cigar" was enough for me. +</p> +<p> +I was sorry not to see the boy Roland or the little girl Amy again, but +I think they may have gone to some other land-place, and so could not +come to the park. But although I saw so many other pleasant young Folks, +I did not forget them. +</p> +<p> +Then, to my sorrow, just as I was getting used to things, although +always in a homesick way, I heard the keepers talking, and learned that +I was to be moved to another great city, where there was to be an +"exposition," or a showing of strange and useful things from many +different lands and seas, really an "exhibition." +</p> +<p> +I began growing flabby and thin. My spirits were at ebb-tide, very low. +I felt as if pining to death. Ah, me! I would have given all the pearls +of the ocean and sea, could I have got hold of them, to be back in my +own dear Mediterranean groves. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a> +<h2> + CHAPTER X. +</h2> + +<center> +HURRAH! +</center> +<p> +Then the day came when I was again made to swim into that despised +little tank. It was put on to a dray as before, and I was given my +second ride on land. May it forever be my last! +</p> +<p> +The roar of the great city again filled my ears, dust troubled my eyes +whenever I raised my head. I was faint, weary, and wretched. I could +feel that I had grown lighter from loss of flesh, because of the +unnatural life that I was leading. +</p> +<p> +How I wished I might escape! That some great and powerful Friend would +help me. But I was only a fish, had only fins and tail to aid me, that I +knew of, and those were at present of but very little use. +</p> +<p> +At length the boat was reached. There was some confusion, as they were +"short of hands," which it appears meant they had not as many men at +the dock as were wanted. But the tank was got on board, and men ran for +the railing that was to be put around the edge. +</p> +<p> +Their backs were turned for an instant. Oh! Oh! could I give a mighty +lurch, bound over the deck-rail, and be free? No waiting this time! I +slashed upward in a tremendous "heave-to." Whack! I struck the rail, +wriggled quick as lightning over the side, and hurrah and hurrah! I was +swimming the wide, free river! +</p> +<p> +Not my own sea. No, there must be first the shortest cut I could find +into the ocean and salt water, then there would be many days of sweet, +wholesome journeying and paddling before home grounds could be reached, +but reached they would be all in good time. +</p> +<p> +Folks say that if Madame Puss, that land-creature who does not love the +water overwell, is carried miles from her home in the dark, she will +find the way back again. And I felt sure that, once out into the harbor, +I could strike a bee-line for a far opposite shore, cut through the +narrows at Gibraltar, and enter like a returning monarch on my own proud +domain, the fair blue Mediterranean Sea. Oh, hurrah again! +</p> +<p> +I heard a loud and echoing shout as my great body splashed into the +water, caught the sound of rushing feet, and saw heavy ropes with +strange loops at the ends, that were flung overboard in hopes to +entangle me, and bring back their great fancy fish into that tank again. +</p> +<p> +Oh, no, Mister Sailorman, and Mister Deckhand. No, no! I had seen and +felt quite enough of being on land, thank you, to last me all the rest +of my life. And as the Dolphin family is very long lived, I hope that +many years of sweet, delicious freedom, and enjoyment of my native +element, are yet before me. +</p> +<p> +And if there was a great king of the Dolphins, as there must be a great +Friend of the Folks, that guides our affairs, I would send him a letter +a yard long, full of thanks for my freedom. It may be there is such a +king, but real knowledge of such things is way beyond me. +</p> +<p> +I saw strange craft as I boomed along, always giving them a wide berth. +And such fishes! Did you ever see an angel-fish? Don't ever wish to if +you haven't. It ought to be called evil spirit fish. In appearance it is +one of the quaintest, ugliest creatures that swims the sea. Some Folks +call it monk-fish. It is all of four feet long, has fierce, goggly eyes, +and a round, wicked-looking head, that seems nearly separated from the +rest of its thick body by a thin, short neck. Then such a +vicious-looking tail! Oh, you had better keep clear of an angel-fish. +</p> +<p> +A toad-fish looked like an enormous, swimming toad. Bless me! I caught +sight of a shark as I came well out into the ocean. He was more than +twenty feet long. Think of that! But they are thirty feet sometimes. His +great, fleshy, powerful tail takes him along as he looks from side to +side for his prey. I saw his pointed nose and his rows of awful teeth, +one over another. +</p> +<p> +There are sharks that can bite a man in halves. Once in awhile we see a +shark in our Mediterranean, but they do not abound there. Yet now and +then Mister Diver-man has had to rush for his life to reach the friendly +ladder when the disturbance under water to right and left has warned him +that one of these sea-monsters was approaching. Oh, they are dreadful +creatures, and greedy, too. They will follow vessels for miles and +miles, expecting that cast-off food will be thrown into the sea, as it +often is. Their instinct tells them that food is likely to drop from +vessels, and it does, indeed. +</p> +<p> +I also saw a sea-snipe, or trumpet-fish, but, oho, without a tooth! He +made me think of a scorpion that has a poisonous, dangerous tail. +</p> +<p> +I came upon a funny sight while still in the Atlantic Ocean. A whole +school of whales went rushing along in a body, and pretty soon I saw +what it meant. Then it was more funny for me than for the poor whales. +Some whalers, men who go out in vessels to catch these enormous fishes +for their flesh, their oil, and their bones, were banging great heavy +pieces of tin of iron against stones, so frightening the whales that +they crowded in a body into a little creek or inlet. +</p> +<p> +This was just what the whalers wanted them to do. Because, once in the +narrow place, so many of them could not escape, and it became easy to +capture them. Men-Folks do really know a very great deal. It makes me +afraid of them. +</p> +<p> +An urchin-fish would make you laugh. Some call it a sea-hedgehog. It +looks as if covered all over with great thorns, and a baby sea-urchin +looks as if it was all ready to burst, it is so thick and round. +</p> +<p> +A sunfish was an odd piece. It had round eyes, and the queer little fins +just back of its neck looked like shoulder-capes. It was so fat it had +to swim with a waddle. +</p> +<p> +The herring I so much like for food are to be found in nearly all +waters, and abundant, sweet, and inviting. Famous ramblers they are, +going in great parties of thousands in number, through wide tracts of +ocean and sea. I have found that a great deal of "money," whatever that +may be, is made by Folks out of the herring fisheries, along the +Atlantic seacoast. +</p> +<p> +And let me whisper: Do you like sardines? Well, some Folks say that +herring do not live in the Mediterranean Sea, that ancient Folks knew +nothing about them, but that what we know as herring are really +sardines. These are caught in great numbers, pickled in some way, then +soaked in oil, are put in little tin boxes, tightly sealed, and sent all +over the world. +</p> +<p> +But let me whisper again, and this makes Lord Dolphin smile; it may make +you laugh. But honestly, they <i>say</i> that immense numbers of little +herring, or alewives, a little fish very much like a herring, are caught +on western shores of the Atlantic, pickled, packed in oil, and sold for +sardines. +</p> +<p> +Isn't it all very funny? If I eat sardines and call them herring, and +folks eat herring and call them sardines, why are we not square? But as +I want to be very honest in all I say, it may be that in speaking of the +herring I so much prefer, I ought to say they are found oftenest at the +far western part of the Mediterranean, where the ancient Folk were not +so likely to explore. +</p> +<p> +After I had sailed for days, gliding like a streak through the deep, +untroubled water, I came again to the Strait of Gibraltar. +</p> +<p> +Oh, with what a thrill of delight I saw this time, in these far happier +days than when last I passed through it, this narrow outlet from ocean +to sea. I went through first in a tank, I returned with the broad ocean +for my glorious bed. +</p> +<p> +I know now that the strait was named for the enormous Rock of Gibraltar, +and that it once was called the Strait of Hercules. +</p> +<p> +Now "Hercules" is another "myth" you will study about in those old Greek +fables called "mythology." He was one of the gods, and famed for his +tremendous strength. The story goes, that, coming up to a monstrous rock +in the Atlantic Ocean that entirely separated it from the Mediterranean +Sea, Hercules, wishing to pass through from ocean to sea, rent the great +rock into two parts, so making a passage through. And this was how the +narrow outlet came to be called the Strait of Hercules. +</p> +<p> +Now, for many years the passage has been called the Strait of Gibraltar. +But the two great rocks at the entrance of the strait are called "The +Pillars of Hercules." +</p> +<p> +Well, through the dividing narrows I darted, and was home again! +</p> +<p> +And I am thankful to know three great and precious words that Folks have +taught me: Friends! Liberty! Home! Are there any better words than +these? Perhaps so. But I have not learned them. Yet Folks know so much +more than a fish, even a lordly one, can understand, that it is quite +likely they may be acquainted with words having a grander meaning than +these. +</p> +<p> +But I, Lord Dolphin, traveller and story-teller, want to repeat, that I +am very, very grateful to any One I ought to thank, that I find myself +among friends again, free, and in my own glorious home, the bright blue +Midland Sea. +</p> +<center> +THE END. +</center> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lord Dolphin, by Harriet A. 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Cheever + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lord Dolphin + +Author: Harriet A. Cheever + +Release Date: February 12, 2004 [EBook #11055] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LORD DOLPHIN *** + + + + +Produced by Internet Archive, University of Florida, and Garrett Alley +and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN + +[Illustration: "A GREAT VESSEL WAS STRAINING AND TUGGING. AND I COULD +SEE LIGHTS"] + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN + +BY + +HARRIET A. CHEEVER + + + +AUTHOR OF "THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TRILL," "MADAME ANGORA," +"MOTHER BUNNY," ETC. + +Illustrated by + +DIANTHA W. HORNE + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN + + + +1903 + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF + +II. UNDER THE WAVES + +III. A CORAL GROVE + +IV. THE MERMAID'S CAVE + +V. MY GARDENS + +VI. MY TREASURE GROUNDS + +VII. WHAT I SAW ONE DAY + +VIII. MY STRANGE ADVENTURE + +IX. LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND + +X. HURRAH! + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"A GREAT VESSEL WAS STRAINING AND TUGGING, AND I COULD SEE LIGHTS" + +"MY TURN TO SHOW A WIDE MOUTH NOW" + +"WHITE FACES SEEMED TO RISE AND RIDE ATOP OF THE FOAMING BILLOWS" + +"OFF TORE THE FISHES, MAD WITH TERROR" + +"ONE CUTE LITTLE NYMPH OF A GIRL WAS CRAZY TO GET NEAR ME" + +"I WAS GIVEN MY FIRST RIDE ON LAND" + + + + +LORD DOLPHIN: HIS STORY + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +LORD DOLPHIN INTRODUCES HIMSELF + +Now who ever heard of a fish's sitting up and telling his own story! + +Oh, you needn't laugh, you young Folks, perhaps you will find that I can +make out very well, considering. + +Of course I have been among "Folks," else I could never use your +language or know anything about you and your ways. + +A message is not received direct from the depths of the sea very often, +and especially from one of the natural natives. And then, there are very +few fishes that ever have an experience like mine, and travel from one +continent to another, going both by sea and by land. + +You surely will open your eyes pretty widely at that, and wonder how a +fish could go anywhere by land. Have patience and you shall hear all +about it by and by. + +I was born deep down in the Mediterranean Sea. That long name is no +stranger. You have seen it many a time in your geographies. But could +you tell the meaning of it, I wonder? _I_ can! It means "Midland Sea," +and is so named from being so near the middle of the earth. + +If the Mediterranean Sea should be pulled up and away, together with the +space it occupies, my! what a hole there would be in the big round +earth! + +Nowadays, even the little Folks hear a great deal about Europe. Some of +the family have very likely been there. Perhaps even small John or +Elizabeth have themselves crossed the great ocean, sailing on a fine +steamer to the coast of England or Ireland. + +Oho! if you had fins and could spread them like sails, and cut through +the water like a flash, you would have a very different idea of the word +"distance" from what you have now. + +I know "Folks" do not think it very nice to talk much about one's self, +but if there is no one else to introduce you, and it is necessary that +those with whom you are talking should know the truth about you, it can +be plainly seen that the only thing to do is to tell the personal story +as modestly and as truthfully as possible. + +When first I saw the light, deep down in the sea, I was quite a little +fellow, and had a mother that took splendid care of me. She never had +but one child at a time, and that one she watched over and tended with +much affection until it was fully able to take care of itself. + +My name is Dolphin, and the Dolphin family is a large one. One branch is +of a very peculiar shape, and has a long and pointed nose or beak from +which it is called the "Sea Goose," or the "Goose of the Sea." I belong +to that branch, but as to being a goose, allow me to say I never was one +and never shall be, not really and truly. + +My head is round, and so large that it forms almost a third of my whole +body. Many Folks travelling by water have seen Dolphins, as once in +awhile we are obliged to toss our heads up out of the water in order to +breathe, as we have lungs. Yet it is not necessary for us to breathe as +Folks do, and we can blow out water in an upward stream from little +holes that are over our eyes. + +My colors are fine, dark, almost black on my back, gray at the sides, +white and shiny as satin underneath. + +There are strange things about a Dolphin. One is that when one is about +to die, the colors are very beautiful. In growing faint-tinted where +once dark, new and brilliant shades flash forth that change and glow in +showy tints. In our beak are thirty or forty sharp teeth on each side of +the jaw. Our voices are peculiar. We are said to make a kind of moan, +which you know is not a very cheerful sound. This is strange, as we are +really very lively creatures, and bright and happy in disposition, not +at all moany or sad. + +Then we have a kind of small tank or reservoir inside the chest and near +the spine which is filled with pure blood. This, you must know, is +separate from the veins, and if we stay very long under water we can +draw from this reserve supply, causing it to circulate through the body. + +There is a great deal of wisdom in all this that a poor fish cannot +understand, but Folks must know how these strange things come about, and +who makes and guides all creatures everywhere. But a Dolphin cannot take +it in at all. + +We are a merry, friendly tribe. There probably are no fish that swim the +sea that are fonder of Folks than we Dolphins. And we cannot help +feeling quite proud because of what Folks have appeared to think of us. +And I must explain why I do so grand a thing as to call myself "Lord +Dolphin." + +To begin with: In long years past, in "ancient times," as they are +called, Folks had an idea that we were able to do them good in some +ways, and so were of special value to them. And certain old coins or +pieces of money had the figure of a Dolphin stamped on them. It also was +on medals, which, you know, are of gold, silver, and copper, and are +given to Folks as a reward for having done a good or a brave deed. + +The figure of a Dolphin was also sometimes embroidered on ribbon to be +used as a badge, showing that the wearer belonged to a particular +society or order using the Dolphin as an emblem. Or it might be, again, +that the figure showed one to be a member of an ancient or noble family. + +Then there are strange and attractive stories of "myths," imaginary +forms or persons, like fairies, gods, and goddesses. When you are older +you will study about these ancient, make-believe beings, and the study +will be called myth-ology, telling curious, interesting stories about +the myths. + +Apollo, one of the so-called deities, was a myth, and said to be the god +of music, medicine, and the fine arts, a great friend of mankind; and a +great favorite I was said to be of Apollo's. + +Orion, another myth, and a most exquisite player of the lute, so +charmed the Dolphins with his playing, that once being in great trouble +and throwing himself into the sea, a Dolphin bore him on his back to the +shore. + +Some Folks have called us whales. But we are not whales at all, and are +of an entirely different family. Yet I am a big fellow all of eight feet +long, while some of us are still much longer than that. + +But the chief cause of pride with the Dolphins is the notice that has +been taken of us, and the honor shown us by the royal family of France. +Why, we formed at one time the chief figure on the coat of arms of the +princes of France. + +A coat of arms, perhaps you know, is a family crest or medal, having on +it a figure or device which a high-born family adopts as its particular +sign or emblem of nobility. + +Then the French people once named a province of France for us, calling +it Dauphene, and pronounced Dor-fa-na. + +But greatest of all the honors shown us, is the fact that the little +men-babies born of the French kings, and heirs to the throne of France, +were called "the Dauphin," taken from our name. + +Are we not distinguished? And do you wonder that we have a somewhat +exalted idea of ourselves after such honors as these have been heaped +upon us? And do you think, in view of these facts, that I am taking on +too grand a title in announcing myself as "Lord Dolphin"? + +Dear me, I do hope not! It would be such a pity to make a mistake right +at the outset in telling a story. For truth to tell, I am not a bit +proud, but just a good-natured chap that has decided to spin a sea-yarn +for the amusement, and I hope the instruction, it may be, of young +Folks, being perfectly willing the older Folks should hear it, too, if +they like. And I don't believe the smaller Folks will object to the +title, even if they don't have "lords" in this country. It must be they +are all lords here, all the nice men-Folks. + +Do you wonder what I live on? Fishes, of course, for we do not have a +very great chance at getting other kinds of food under water. I like +herrings best of all, and feed on them oftener than on any other kind of +fish. + +There is just one fellow that I cannot endure. That is the flying-fish. +I fight, make war on him, and drive him away every time he comes around. +Oh, but he is the trying creature! Forever flying in your face, getting +in your way, prying into your affairs, a kind of gossip-fish, that I +despise. Why I feel so great a dislike for him I cannot say, it must be +there is something in my nature that sets me against him, but a +flying-fish and a Dolphin cannot live along the same wave. + +There is another page in my history that must be mentioned. + +Several hundred years ago our flesh used to be eaten, and what is more, +it was thought to be fine, so that only those who had a great deal of +money could afford to have it on their tables. But nowadays we are never +used for food, but are thought to be coarse, and not nearly as nice as +most other kinds of fish. + +All right! We are very glad not to be in danger of being devoured. We go +sailing along under the bright surface of the sea, in groups of just +ourselves, and such leaps as we can take! By and by, you will hear of +leaps I have taken which have been the means of my learning a great +deal. + +Away we scud, passing ships that think they are going pretty fast, but, +O Neptune! our fins and tails take us along at a spanking rate, which +makes the ships seem slow. + +In one thing we are much like Folks. Don't laugh, please, but we are +very, very fond of music. Sometimes we catch the sound of voices singing +on a vessel, and up we go, leaping fairly into the air to get as near +the sound as possible. + +And should there be a violin, a guitar, flute, or a cornet--oh, yes, I +know them all!--on a passing vessel, we float alongside just far enough +under water to keep our bodies out of sight, while we take in the +strains in our own peculiar way. For although our ears might be hard to +find, we yet absorb or draw in sound very readily. + +And now that you know quite a little about the Dolphin family, I will +tell you some things that may interest you about my watery home. For +home, you know, is wherever one lives, whether it be in the air, on the +earth, in the earth, or in the waters under the earth. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +UNDER THE WAVES + +Pretty soon I must describe my playground, but first you must learn a +few simple things about the place I love best of all places in the +world, my home in the deep, deep sea. + +Do you suppose that when the sky is dark and threatening up where you +live, and when the wind is blowing like a hurricane, and the great waves +lash about, acting as if mad, that there is great disturbance far below? + +Do you suppose that when shipmasters are shouting out orders to the +crew, and trying to keep their vessels from turning topsy-turvy or going +down out of sight, that the fishes are scampering about wild, driven +here and there by the fierce winds, and scared half to death by the fury +of the storm? + +Do you suppose there is a terrible roar of wind and wave that bangs us +against each other at such times, and makes of the under-sea a raging +bedlam? + +Oh, by no means! There is nothing of the kind down in what Folks call +"the lower ocean." It is calm and quiet as the surface of a pond on a +pleasant summer day. + +And yet, if you wonder how I first learned about the lashing and the +thrashing of the waves above our heads when there is a storm, let me +tell about the time when I was a naughty, wilful fish, bound to have my +own way and do just as I pleased. It was when I was quite young, yet +pretty well grown. And this makes me wonder if growing little men-Folks +and women-Folks ever are determined to have their own way, no matter +what the mother may say. + +I have an idea it is what is called the "smart age," when the young, +whether fish, flesh, or fowl, start up all at once, and think they know +more than--"than all the ancients." I heard that expression used once, +and it seemed somehow to fit in here. + +Well, I was a young, big fellow, when one day I felt the will strong +within me to take leaps toward the upper sea. Now, I have already said +that my mother took the best and most watchful care of me when I was a +chicken-fish. So when she saw how restless and venturesome I appeared +that day, she tried her best, poor dear, to turn me from my purpose. + +For she was older and wise, and could tell by certain signs when the +upper currents were seething and boiling. So when I darted upwards with +a strong swirl that cut the waters apart for my passage, she thrust +herself farther ahead, trying to drive me back, and said plainly by her +actions: + +"Don't go aloft, my son, you will rush into danger; heed the warnings of +your mother and stay where the waters are untroubled and safe." + +No, I was getting to be a smart man-fish, and must be allowed to go +where I would. + +Very well, I went. Upward and upward I dove, until, oh, distress! I was +caught by the turmoil and confusion of a great storm. I had gone too far +because of knowing far less than I thought I did. + +Do you ask why I did not immediately dive downwards again? Alas, I +couldn't! I had raised myself into the storm circle, and big creature +that I was, I had need to learn that there were mighty forces of the sea +that made all my strength as a mere wisp of straw when placed against +them. + +Do not Folks, I wonder, sometimes find it much easier to get into a hard +place than to get out of it? That was what I found then, being driven +about first this way, then that. I was slammed against a great, roaring +billow that sent me off presently in another direction, merely to be met +by another wave that dashed me against a third one. + +My instincts, that serve me for mind and brains, taught me that if I +wanted to get down to quiet, restful depths, I must dive head foremost +directly toward the bottom of the sea. + +Oh, what folly to try! No sooner would I get my great head and long nose +pointed for a swift downward plunge, than a thundering billow would +actually toss me into the air, just as I have seen a spurt of spray toss +a cockle-shell. + +Oh, but I saw strange sights and heard strange sounds that night! Once +when two waves came together I was not only tossed high in air, but for +several moments I actually rode atop of the rolling foam. + +It was then that I had my first view of "Folks." What wonderful beings! +My first thought was, could it be some new, amazing kind of fish that +could stand upright? You see, I had up to that time only known creatures +that lay flat, that flapped fins in order to get along, or in order to +try what is called by the long word, lo-co-mo-tion. + +But here were fine, tall objects that were in every way so different! I +indeed knew at once that they were far above and superior to the little +creatures that flew, to anything that crawled, and to any kind of fish +that swam the seas. + +A great vessel was straining and tugging, and I could see lights here +and there that showed the water black as night. Sailors' voices rose +high above the surging of water and the tempest's loud cry. There were +queer little holes in the sides of the vessel that I know now are called +"port-holes," and big guns were pointed out through them. + +A sailor with a rope about his waist tried to walk across the deck, but +was thrown along the wet and slippery boards like a ball tossed from the +hands of a child. In a queer set of outside garments that I have learned +are called "oil-skins," the crew, officers, and captain went to and fro, +trying their best to keep things straight. + +In some way I knew that the brave captain was not afraid. A little pale +he was, surely, but his voice was firm as he called through a strange +fixture called the ship's trumpet. And his hands did not shake as he +tried to peer through a great glass across the rolling sea. + +The sailor with the rope about him was again and again tossed and +tumbled about as he tried to make the passage across the deck, but as +often as he tried his mates would have to pull on the rope and right +him. And I still think, as I did that night, that a ship's crew, +sailors, officers, and captain, are brave, brave folk,--the bravest +Folks I know. + +As the storm went crashing on, I kept thrusting myself downward, in +hopes to plunge lower than the storm circle. No use. I was upborne every +time, and after many attempts knew it would be best to simply float as I +must. + +I had drifted far from the sailing-vessel, when, as I floated high on +the crest of a wave, I looked upon a pleasure-craft of some kind, riding +high upon the breakers. Men who were not regular sailors looked with +startled eyes on the terrible sea. They were calm and quiet, but from +the way they questioned the staunch skipper, and watched the men forming +the crew, I knew they carried anxious hearts, and longed to see the +waters grow calmer. + +A hard fling sent me afloat again, and I had a peep inside the cabin, +where ladies with white faces and clasped hands were whispering of the +storm, and listening with fear in their eyes to the wild clamor of the +winds. + +Then there was a peep beyond that showed me something that to this day +I cannot understand, but I tell it because my instincts assure me that +boy-Folks and girl-Folks in good homes with good parents will know just +what it meant. And although I am only Lord Dolphin, a great fish of the +sea, there was something about it that has comforted me, and I think +always will comfort me as long as I live. + +I saw a little girl, oh, a fair little creature, with fluffy, golden +hair shading her babyish face, who was on her knees beside a white and +gilded berth. + +A berth, you know, is a small bed built right against the wall in any +kind of a vessel, be it sailer, steamship, or yacht. I think this was +some rich man's yacht. + +The fair little lady, then, was on her knees beside her gilded berth, +her elbows resting on the pretty white bed, eyes closed, tiny white +hands clasped, and lips moving. She surely was talking to some One, but +Who I cannot even guess. + +But this much was certain: that child was not afraid. Not in the least! +She must have wakened from sleep, else she would not have been alone. +And hearing the wild storm, she had slipped from her little bed, put +herself on her knees, and raised her dear, fearless little hands and +heart--where? + +Oh, surely that child had a Friend somewhere whom she trusted. How +beautiful! + +They say that fishes and some other creatures are cold of blood and have +but little feeling. But I have gone far enough to think out one thing, +and it all comes of that child on her knees: if a dear mite of a woman +like that had a great, powerful Friend she could talk to in the dark, +and feel safe with in such a tempest, just as true as I am a living +Dolphin, I believe it must be some One strong enough and good enough to +care for all kinds of creatures. I do, indeed! Do you wonder it comforts +me? + +It was strange that after awhile the moon came struggling through the +black and angry sky. She rode high, did Luna,--that is the moon's +name,--and was at the full, and wherever the clouds parted for a moment, +a broad streak of luminous light shone down on great mountains of water, +leaping up and up, as if eager to crush everything before them. + +The wind did not soon go down, it could not; neither could I with my +utmost strength dive downwards through the piled-up, violent waves that +still rushed and roared, bounded and snapped with wild force. + +Luna had sailed toward the west, and a gleam of daylight was streaking +the sky at the east, before the churning, choppy waters began leaping +less high, and once again I was tossed crest-high, where I was glad to +catch sight of a sailing-vessel that was steadying herself in the +distance, and a white yacht was skipping like a frightened but rescued +bird afar off. + +I do not know whether I had been terribly afraid or not. I was not +afraid of the sea itself, it was what Folks call my "native element," +the place in which I was born, was natural to me, and I was native to +it. + +But yes, I think I was afraid that the coming together of those fierce +waves might crush me as they met in their terrible strength. The noise +of such a meeting could be heard miles away. Ships have been in great +peril from them, and fish have often had the life beaten out of them in +such a sea. + +Yet, naughty fellow that I was, no great harm came to me. As soon as I +saw my chance, head down I plunged, out of the harsh circle of the +storm. + +Oh, the peacefulness and the restfulness of those quiet lower regions! +For far below, all strife of angry billow and raging storm was unknown, +and glad enough was I to reach my mother's side. + +It may have been that my own plump sides were puffed out with the effort +I had made, and the storm's rough tossing, and my absence and the +direction I had taken all told my mother that something had gone hard +with me, and that I was glad to again be near her in the silent depths +of home. She floated with me close alongside, guided me to a restful +grove midst shimmering weeds that made a soft and silken couch, where in +the sweet stillness, lulled by the lap of gentle ripples against weed, +or shell, or bending sea-flowers, I glided off to dreamless slumber. + +And the last thing I saw before slipping off to quiet sleep was a little +bright-haired child on her knees, eyes closed, hands upraised and +folded: a child that was not afraid. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +A CORAL GROVE + +Perhaps you did not know that the fishes in the sea, both large and +small, were playful creatures. Well, they are. They can frisk, frolic, +play "hide-and-seek", "catch", and race and romp at a great rate. + +Now I want to tell something of our playground, and if you are surprised +at the beauty with which we are surrounded, why should you be? There +surely are lovely things on the earth for all kinds of upper-air +creatures, such as Folks, animals, birds, and insects, to enjoy. + +Listen, then, while I tell about the "caverns of ocean". A cavern, you +know, is a hollow or den, and old ocean holds many a cavern or den full +of interest and beauty. But I will take you first to a kind of grove. + +My home, where I spend most of my time, is in deep water. But not in the +deepest, oh, no! That is said to be two thousand fathoms down. Think of +it! More than two miles below the surface. There probably is but very +little life at that depth. But when I visit some groves, or the region +of a reef, I must first sail and sail until I reach water that is not +deep at all. + +Do you think you have ever seen coral, real coral? Yes, doubtless you +have, and you may have seen it in various forms. But I feel sure you +have never seen coral to know very much about it, as you have never been +to the bottom of the sea. + +Ah, here are all kinds of graceful shapes shooting up from the depths, +so singular and varied in form, that one would wonder what they are +meant to stand for. Look at these trees, perfect little trees in coral, +eight or ten feet high, with branches spreading out from the trunk. On +the branches are delicate sprays of fairylike net or lace-work, all in +white, but of various patterns. Should you get near enough, you would +see that these branches, some of which seem to bear flowers in shapes +like pinks or lilies, are dented or pitted as if tiny teeth had eaten +into them. This may be partly the work of worms. + +Now, this is simply a large piece of white coral, but all around and +about are fanciful shapes, nearly as large as the one described. Here, +too, are what might be taken for thick bushes or shrubs, branching out +with sprays of fretwork, white and spotless. Then there are smaller +growths like low plants, and curiously colored, some pink, some red, +others a yellowish white. These, too, appear to bear flowers, asters, +carnations, or roses. + +And for miles at a time we can rove and sport in a beautiful coral +grove. + +Think of a little house, if you can, made entirely of ivory, with here +and there bright tints mingling with the white. For coral looks like +ivory when its natural roughness is smoothed and polished. Think of +swimming through little rooms, under arches, over lovely walks, through +make-believe doors, slipping past upright altars of red and white coral, +resting on spreading seats, or under outreaching canopies, or stopping +to look at another outreaching shape like the arms of candelabra or +candlestick holders. Sliding over footstools, and under culverts, all +soft and gleaming in color. Then again there are curves and passages in +which we can hide and stay hidden as long as we please. Is it not +beautiful? And all so clean and clear! + +Yet there is need to take heed and be careful. These stretching shapes +and branches, these candle-holders and bushy twigs have sharp, hard +points, and bouncing against them too suddenly might severely wound a +fish, or it might slip into a crevice where it would be pricking work to +get out. + +Now, what is coral. Is it alive? Does it live and breathe? It is one of +the curious, mysterious things of the ocean about which Folks have +written and studied, and the wise ones say that coral is neither insect +nor fish, but a kind of sea-animal, that lives in both deep and shallow +waters. In the beginning it appears to be a tiny sea-creature, like a +small, fleshy bag, with a mouth at one end, while with the other it +clings to some object, almost always a rock. + +These little creatures are said to have the power to sting if they are +provoked. From these tiny frames there comes a hard, stony substance +that spreads and spreads as we have seen, while the part that was alive +becomes a mere dead shell. + +This is the best explanation I can give about coral and the tiny +creatures from which it takes its start, and that seem so exceedingly +small to me to be called "sea-animals." But think of the wonderful +formations that grow from the bodies of these mites of creatures! Why, +there are whole reefs or chains of rocky borders along some coasts made +entirely of coral. Some of them are known as barrier reefs. + +Bless you! it may be hard to believe, but a barrier reef twelve hundred +miles long runs along the coast of Australia between the Pacific and +Indian Oceans! Then there are coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, whole +platforms of solid coral which shut in portions of quiet water in some +places. + +The little corals themselves do not work in deep water, nor above the +surface of the sea. But the bony substance spreads and spreads, up, +down, and across the sea. And as many shell-fish eat into coral, great +quantities of fine coral-sand sink to the bottom, making a nice white +carpet for the fishes to glide over. Folks do not take coral from the +sea at any time but during the months you call April, May, and June. + +Now remember these things when you go into houses and see fine large +pieces of coral on the mantel, or it may be standing against the wall. + +Perhaps you have a coral necklace of little, uneven, red, stick-like +beads. The jeweller-man can tell you how very hard it is to drill the +holes in these beads; it is like drilling through hard rock. But if you +happen to have a necklace, brooch, or bracelet of pink coral, my! you +had better take good care of it, for it must have cost a little bag of +gold. Pink coral is rare, beautiful, and very expensive. The genuine +pink-tinted is said to have sold for so great a price as five hundred +dollars for a single ounce. + +Heigho! I want neither necklace, brooch, nor bracelet. For where, pray, +would Lord Dolphin wear a breastpin, or how would he look with a string +of coral beads about his neck, or a bracelet pinched about his tail? + +You needn't laugh so hard. I have seen Folks who hung too much jewelry +about themselves and seemed to think it becoming. A few pieces of nice +jewelry may be tasteful and ornamental, but when too much is worn, I +have a fancy that it might make a coral mite or an oyster want to laugh. + +Pretty soon I must explain why an oyster might have a right to be amused +at seeing too many gems crowded on at once. But first you must hear +something funny about coral, something so silly, too, that even a fish +is almost ashamed to tell of it; but this was true long in the past, +Folks are much wiser now. + +Long years ago there were Folks who believed that wearing a "charm," +which often was a little piece of coral, perhaps made into an ornament, +would charm away harm or danger, and keep them safe from "the evil eye." + +"Dear sakes!" you cry, "what was 'the evil eye'?" + +Well, it is almost sad to think that any one could be so foolish, yet +when Folks know but little, they will catch up strange notions and +listen to silly signs without an atom of truth or common sense in them. +So some ignorant Folks once believed that a witch, or some witchy Folk +with an evil eye, might look upon them and cause them harm, or make them +meet some danger. + +And they pretended that hanging a bit of coral somewhere about them +would keep off a look from "the evil eye," and that making children wear +a piece of it would charm away sickness and act as a medicine. Now did +you ever! + +Chinese Folks and Hindoos have made most exquisite and wonderful +carvings of the coral of the Mediterranean, and there is such a thing as +black coral, also known as brain coral, but it is too brittle to be +worked upon. + +Ah, who would not be a Dolphin, merry and free, whisking through deep, +still water, coasting over coral sands, and diving and sporting through +coral groves! + +Nor is this the only rare and curious place through which I rove, +chasing my comrades, wandering about in search of caverns below, and +sweet music above, while forever making war on my enemy, the +flying-fish. + +You see, these fish can cut through the water, reach the surface, then +really fly with finny wings across short spaces right in the air. They +think themselves smart, and are great braggarts. + +One morning a flying-fish was bent on worrying me, swishing its flapping +fins directly before my face, then darting upward, sending the spray +cross-wise into my eyes. I made a snap or two at the vexing creature, +but as I missed him he became bolder, and stopped a race I was having +with one of my mates. + +Suddenly I made a great leap after the flier, but up he went, up, up, +and I after him, sharp! Further up he went, and I pursued. He laughed, +fish-fashion, his big mouth sprawling way across his face as he sped +above the surface. + +I poked my nose into upper air and saw which way he was going, and to my +joy he made a dip just as up went my beak again, and I had him, squeezed +securely between my jaws. + +Of all the wriggling and squirming, the begging and the pleading that +ever you saw or heard! But I did not want to eat him, nor did I mean to +kill him, either. But I did mean to teach old Mister Flier a lesson, +showing it was neither wise nor in good taste to torment a fish-fellow +that was ever so much larger and stronger than himself. + +So down, down I went, until I reached a cell in a coral grove, and in I +popped his Majesty, and sat down and grinned at him. My turn to show a +wide mouth now. + +Did you know a fish could tremble? That fellow trembled and shook as if +he had a fishy fit when he found himself in that den, with a great +Dolphin's eye on him. Perhaps it was indeed "an evil eye" to him. He +could have slipped out and away would I only move and give him room. Oh, +no, not just yet! I lashed the water with my strong tail, and "made up +eyes" at him, I am afraid, in a truly evil way. + +Then I began to feel that it was neither kind nor noble to carry my +punishment too far, so off I slowly sailed, and out from his tight +corner slid my slippery prisoner. And he tormented me no more. I did not +mean to harm him, and do not think I did, but he slipped sideways +through the water ever after that. + +It must be that he jammed a fin in his haste to escape from his cubby, +but I see him often, and always with that sideways gait. I hope he is +cured forever of making of himself a pester and a plague. + +[Illustration: "MY TURN TO SHOW A WIDE MOUTH NOW"] + +I was glad to see that he still could fly, and that swift as an arrow he +could dart over and under, through and across, the thousand winding ways +of our coral groves. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +THE MERMAID'S CAVE + +As I have never been in a truly house, I cannot know of all the kinds of +carpets or coverings that Folks use on the floors. + +Yet I have had peeps at very lovely carpets, as in a ship's cabin, and I +know that velvet and fine, beautiful straw, as well as other kinds of +nice carpets, must be used in what Folks call their houses. + +Oh, but never has a floor of wood been covered with such wonderful +material, or covering of such marvellous workmanship, as that over which +I have roamed, and on which I have rested all my life. Yet, except in +deep waters, I will not pretend that my carpets are always very soft. + +In the deeper waters that I love, there are miles and miles of soft, +blue mud, that to a Dolphin is far more luxurious and enjoyable than the +thickest of velvet or the most closely, evenly plaited straw could be. +But when, after a long, delightful journey, I visit the regions of +shallower waters, ah, the beautiful things I could bring you, were there +a tunnel, a car, or an air-shaft to convey me safely to land! + +What are these shining, many-colored things I see lying about, with all +kinds of fishes sailing around and playing with, as a child plays with +blocks or cards? + +Shells! all kinds and shapes, many of them rough outside but smooth and +glossy as glass inside. + +What is a shell? You know the word "marine," called ma-_reen_, means +belonging to the sea, so shells are marine curiosities, for they are +always found in or near the sea. And they are really the hard, outer +covering of some sea-animal or other. + +But how can I describe shells such as I have looked upon a thousand +times? You have seen some kinds, I know, but they would not even pass as +samples of the splendid shapes and tints that lie scattered around my +floor. A few Folks have made a study of the different kinds of shells +that have floated or been carried to the shore, and have been able to +tell the class of sea-animals to which they have belonged. They once +were the coats or outside garment of a swimmer or a clinger of the sea. + +One day a mother-Dolphin missed her boy-Dolphin, and as he was quite a +young fellow, she felt much distressed. Away she sailed, peering amidst +the many objects covering the sea-floor. + +Do you suppose it is an easy matter to find a fish that has got lost? I +caught the flying-fish because he never got far away from me. But here +was a young rascal that had gone off roaming, almost before he knew how +to feed himself, and search as she might, nowhere could his mother find +the rogue of a runaway. + +If you will believe it, he was gone a week, then back he came, his eyes +as big as saucers. You see, I know how to say some things that Folks do; +by and by you will find out how I learned them. + +Master Dolphy had a story to tell. He made us understand in +fish-language that he had found a wonderful, wonderful cave, where a +party of mermaids had collected a lot of shells, oh, enough to fill a +great house! + +Now, I can't tell a thing as to the truth about mermaids. But "they +say," that is, Folks and fishes say, that they are strange, fascinating +creatures, with the head, shoulders, arms, and breast of a beautiful +woman, and part of the body and the tail of a fish. Sometimes they are +called sea-nymphs; others call them sirens. + +Have you ever lived by the sea? And on stormy evenings, when rain was +rattling on the window-pane, and the wind went screaming around the +house, have you ever imagined there were queer calls, and have you seen +strange shapes thrown up by the waves? + +Or have you ever heard an old sailor or an old fisherman tell stories of +the deep? If not, you cannot take in the kind of spell or enchantment +that lingers about the sea after listening to these sounds or hearing +these stories. They are all mixed up with the "myth" stories you heard +of a little way back. + +But these stories have been told ever since the world was young. And the +mermaids are said to be daughters of the river-god that have lived ever +in the deep and sounding ocean. + +And they were strange and weird--that is, wild, unnatural, and witching. +They would appear in both calm and stormy weather. + +Sirens were sometimes thought to be different from mermaids, but we +fishes know them to be one and the same thing--that is, if they exist at +all. It used to be said that a mermaid murmured, but that a siren sang, +with dangerous sweetness. Both murmur and both sing, one as much as the +other. + +They will all at once be seen poised on perilous rocks, their long and +splendid hair floating back in the wild wind, their eyes shining like +stars, their faces bright and glorious, their white arms and gleaming +shoulders rising like snow from midst the dark and stormy waves. + +Ah! the singing, the beckoning, and the coaxing of a mermaid! Let me +tell you how they work. + +They have a sly, four-legged creature on land, all dressed in fur, and +sporting a fine, thick tail, and they say that when this Madame Puss +wants to catch a bird that is wheeling in the air, she will manage to +first catch its eye. Then the little creature will not be able to look +away, but will wheel and circle, and circle and wheel, all the time +coming nearer, until, if no one frightens Madame Puss away, she will +keep her yellow eye fixed on the eye that she has caught, until the bird +flies close to her and is caught. + +This is called "charming a bird." And the truth must be that poor +birdie, after catching sight of that great, shining eye, does not see +Madame Puss herself, but only the bright eye, and being unable to look +away, flies nearer and nearer the strange, glittering light, until +Madame Puss makes a spring, and all is over. + +[Illustration: "WHITE FACES SEEMED TO RISE AND RIDE ATOP OF THE FOAMING +BILLOWS"] + +Just so, it is said, the sailors cannot look away from the fair, +wonderful creatures tossing their rich hair, beckoning wildly, singing +and singing with a sweetness that is not natural or earthly, until, what +with the beauty and luring, and voices of honey, the poor sailormen are +close against the rocks, and do not seem to know that they are charmed +or harmed when the waters close softly over them. + +I do not know whether I have ever seen a mermaid or not. But when I took +that dangerous voyage up into the storm circle, I saw strange shapes +that I never saw before, and heard sounds that were new to my ear. Two +or three times I thought I saw streaming hair, and white faces seemed to +rise and ride atop of the foaming billows. + +But when one is very much excited, will not imagination produce almost +any kind of an object that happens to come into the mind? Ah, I am +afraid so. Still, there are both Folks and fishes that believe in the +mermaids and their songs, and what am I that I should dare dispute them! + +Yet--let me whisper--I have heard that Folks who do not know so very +much, will tell about "goblins," "spooks," and "catch-ums," and whenever +there is talk about the mermaids and the sirens, I think of those Folks +who believe in creatures that "never were." + +But it would not do to talk in my watery home as if I had no belief in +mermaids, because, you see, as most fishes have never been with Folks, +and learned a thing or two from them, they do not know any better than +to believe in these sweet, dangerous creatures. + +So, now, here came Dolphy, with flapping fins, wild eye, and his story +of a mermaid's cave. Then a party was made up to go and see the rare and +amazing place. + +Well, it did look as if some creatures of surprising taste and skill had +brought together a collection of shells such as are never seen above the +surface of the sea, and formed, indeed, a cave fit for a mermaid's home. + +I know little about time, but it must have been days and nights I stayed +in the enchanting place, roving hither and thither, rubbing my fins +against the soft, smooth shells, and half wondering how they really came +to be grouped together in such shining rows. + +And the colors! And the shapes! Some were well-opened on the inside, and +looked as if entirely covered with pink enamel. They were of clear, +ivory white, pinkish white, pale rose, deep rose, pale yellow, or straw +color, orange yellow, blue and green mixed in glossy sheen, shades of +pink running into rich reds, purples and grayish pinks, making the fair, +sweet mother-o'-pearl. + +Some were cup-shaped, having deep hollows. Should you hold your ear +fairly shut into one of these, it is said you would hear always as often +as you so held it, the roaring of the ocean. And a roaring sound you +would hear, in very truth. Yet, let me tell you! Take a common china +cup, shut your ear into it, and the same roaring will be heard. + +Is that old ocean? No, it is simply the sound of your own blood coursing +through your veins. + +A wide-awake Frenchman once wrote that, could you look within your own +body and see the engines pumping, the valves opening and shutting, the +pipes working, and the whole machinery in action, it would surprise and +perhaps scare you into the bargain. + +We have got a little off the track, but it is well to know the facts +about these things. Now we will return to the shells. + +Look at that splendid one shaped like a bowl, but with pink lips rolled +back, through which can be seen changing tints of pink and white. Here +is one that is oblong, lined with rose enamel, but having strange horns +pointing out at one side. + +See that beauty, wide open and shaped like a saucer. Dear me, hold it a +little toward the light, and there gleams every color of the rainbow on +the polished surface. Here is another, striped with hair-like lines in +red, yellow, blue, and brown. There is a fan, wide open, beautifully +polished; it has no handle, but its coloring is in nearly all tints, and +changeable in the light. What a lovely thing is this heart-shaped shell, +with a line along the centre, and beautifully blending colors on either +side. There are many of these scattered around. + +Now, how can I describe these singular yet perfect shapes banked up +against rocks that are completely hidden on the inside of the cave? + +Over there is a funny, snarly head, with fine shreds of hair laced over +a smooth shell. Ah, what gleams of colored light shoot through the hair! +Here is a bird's nest on a bar, lying side of a wide fan, shaped like a +palm leaf; in the plaitings are curled all colors, pink, blue, yellow, +and green. + +This shell is like a foot with eighteen or twenty toes, smooth, shining, +and of flesh-like tints. This is like a bat's wing, with lines and webs +finely tinted. Look at that enamelled jug with a pipe at the top. Near +by is a perfect leaf on a small branch. + +Do see this worm, ringed around with dark purple stripes. Isn't it +queer? In that corner is a trumpet, splendidly colored inside. That +shape over there must be a fool's cap, one mass of sheeny tints inside. +Here are beautifully rounded little bowls, all scalloped around the top; +ah, see them glisten and change shades as the light strikes them! + +See the beetle-bugs, with horns sticking out in every direction. And if +here isn't a perfect shape of a lady's slipper! The lady should wear it +inside out, so all could see its exquisite mother-o'-pearl. + +Here are shells exactly like the feathery wing of a bird, and how birdie +would enjoy snuggling his soft head against the exquisite smoothness of +these shells! + +Is that a large carrot split lengthwise? It looks like it, but no carrot +split along its length ever brought to light such rainbows as glint +along these. Those shells looking so much like rattles would amuse a lot +of babies if they could play in the mermaid's cave. They would try to +catch the fine colors, and might cry when they changed and changed, and +then appeared to dance away. + +Those serpents, some half uncoiled, some out straight, will not bite. +Those flashes are not from dangerous eyes, but are only fine shell +tints. + +Here are a lot of squat jars for holding small ornaments. They are +ornaments themselves. Are they not? And what queer combs with three +shining rows of teeth, each tooth a point of color. + +Really, I might as well stop. There would be no use in trying to +describe a third of these shapes, and as to coloring, with all I have +said, you can have but a faint idea of the soft, brilliant, ever +changing hues and gleams in the mermaid's cave. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +MY GARDENS + +Long as I have talked of shells, I must say a word or two more about +shells that are used as stones. + +When I was on land a little while, I noticed in front of a few houses, +walks, that I knew at a glance were made from clam-shells. So I knew +that Folks must have machines for pounding up shells. Such a beautiful, +clean, white walk as they make! + +Then, before some fine-looking houses were great conch-shells, oblong +and twisted in shape, but pink and smooth inside. Many of them were +placed around lovely fountains, or urns of flowers. + +But I want to tell of one very beautiful and costly kind of ornament +that is made from some conch-shells, pronounced "konk." + +Romans and Greeks, but especially the Greeks, used to cut "cameos" from +the onyx-stone. And men skilled in cutting fine stones and jewels have +cut most exquisite cameos, or faces, from the kind of conch-shell that +has two layers, one dark, the other light. + +The word "cameo" is said to mean one stone upon another. The "queen +conch" is a splendid shell, with two distinct layers, one white, the +other pink. Out of the white layer is carved perhaps the face of a +woman, with a crown of flowers on her head, or it may be the head of a +knight, with a helmet on. + +But think of the fineness of the tools that must be used, the tiny files +and chisels in carving the lovely, delicate shells. The shell cameos +with the pink lower stone and white upper figure, are most expensive of +all; other shells have brown or black lower layers, and these are not as +choice. + +But when you see your grandma or great-auntie wearing a lovely +old-fashioned breastpin, bound around with gold, and holding a pink +stone, shining like crystal, with a white carved head or other figure +standing out from the lower stone, you may know it is a very valuable +ornament, and was probably made from one of the finest shells found in +the sea. Imitations are made from porcelain, but very likely grandma's +or great-auntie's will be the real conch-shell. + +Perhaps you did not know that there are fair and beautiful gardens in +my watery home. You may have picked up sprays or bunches of seaweed when +running along the beach, and some were perhaps quite pretty, while +others had turned brown and looked much like leather. + +Would you like to come with Lord Dolphin and take a swim through an +ocean garden? You would doubtless see such a sight as you had never +dreamed could be seen down in the blue water. + +All right, I'll turn into a fairy godfather, clap you on to my back, +give you the lungs of a mermaid, to prevent your choking in the water, +and then, come on! Or, rather, I should say, come down! + +"Why, why! A fairylike scene indeed!" you cry. + +Now you have not taken on "the evil eye" in coming to the bottom of the +sea, but you have taken a "fish eye." Folks usually hate fishy eyes, but +no matter, you couldn't see the first thing down here with your own +natural peepers, so be thankful that for a time you can see with eyes +like mine. + +Now, this is not a coral grove, it is a garden of flowers, and when you +exclaim again, "Oh, but I had no idea of this!" I should have to reply, +"Of course you hadn't; no more had I of the strange and beautiful +things on the land, until I had to live there a little while." + +Folks call these flowers, such as they have seen of them, weeds, +seaweeds. And I suppose they have to come under that name, as they are +not planted from seeds, but are a wild growth. Ah, but some great +Planter or Gardener surely put all these wonderful shapes and splendid +tints in the soft earth of a sea-garden. And it is all so blithe and +gay! + +Here are nearly all the shapes in bushes and almost trees that you have +in your garden on land. And as to flowers, there are leaves, spires, +cups, bells, tassels, very much such as you see in your garden at home. + +See these beautiful crimson leaves, as large as the top of a small +table, and cut in such fine, even scallops around the edges, and here is +one with a great pad of yellow right on the crimson. My! My! is it not +colored richly? + +Here are leaves shooting out like rafts, thick, like the leaves of a +rubber-tree, but larger and of a deep red. You might take a sail on one +of them. And here is a bush, shooting upright from its muddy bed, all +covered with pink sprays, on which are pink blossoms. Doesn't it make +you think of a syringa bush? Only these flowers are pink. + +Next comes this plant with a large olive green stem covered thickly +with branches, bearing flowers resembling pink roses. Were this plant +taken to the church some Sunday morning and placed on the pulpit-stand, +you may believe that after the service Folks would go crowding about the +altar, eager to find out its name and whence it came. + +What a clucking of surprise there would be when it was told that not +from any hothouse whatever, but from the depths of the ocean came the +full, lovely sea-roses. + +Are these sprays of pink coral? No, they are sea-rods and branches. If +you pinch the thick stems, water will ooze out, for they are partly +hollow, like the pond-lily stem. + +I do not wonder you look with questioning surprise at that next plant. +It is like a mass of purple bushes, a very sweet growth rather hard to +describe. All through the delicate branches are what look like small +dark berries, seen through a mist of pinkish, hairy spires. + +Don't start. These merry fishes darting through the next clump of bushes +have only come to smell of the carnation pinks the bushes bear. Are they +not strangely like your garden carnations? + +See the fishes nip at those singular pink flowers with a thick fringe +hanging from the edges. It is a shame to spoil them, but some fishes +always seem to think that graceful fringe droops down on purpose for +them to peck at. + +Now if the baby were only here, you could seat him on these broad, flat +leaves, with delicate spires all along the edges, and all of so deep a +crimson they surely would attract any child. + +What a queer flower! like the backbone of a fish with all the little +bones at the side standing out stiff and pointed, and all in pinks and +purples. + +Right in the midst of another plot of thick, flat leaves rises a mass of +pink sea-lilies, and they are beautiful; but do examine the next bed of +leaves. Are they not curious? A thick, hollow-looking stem goes through +the middle of them, and on one side of the stem they are a deep pink, on +the other side, yellow. + +Here are flowers shaped like horns and trumpets. What a forest of pinks, +greens, and yellows! And here are the greens. Such greens as you have +never seen before. + +Now suppose you were going to have a party. What decorations you could +have if only the ocean blooms would keep fresh for you to use. There +would be masses of fine furze that would be perfectly beautiful to crowd +over the pictures; silky threads that, placed on creeping green plants, +would look lovely carried along the table; yellow flowers in the midst +of masses of fine sea-mosses, and sea-ferns would make your little mates +wonder where the fresh, strange things grew. + +And there could he yards and yards of ribbons. Ribbons? Yes, long, long +sprays of yellowish green sea-ribbon, four or five inches wide, going +down to narrower ones not more than an inch in width. + +Perhaps you would like some sea-thistles. Here they are, in thick +bunches, fine and hairy, in faint, fair shades of green. And what can +this be that looks so much like a sponge? Ah, it is a tuft of moss with +green spires shooting up in the middle. + +Take care! Here are bunches of cactus with prickly leaves. Look out! +don't catch your toe in those sea-ferns. Even that sweet green +maiden-hair fern might pin down your foot so firmly that it would take a +fish's sharp tooth to set you free. + +You may ask, why are not these beautifully colored and curiously shaped +things brought on shore and sold, as they might be, for much money? And +why are they not at least put where Folks can see, learn about them, and +admire them? + +But wait a moment; what would be the effect if any one took a bunch of +your garden roses, pinks, or lilies, put them under water, and kept them +there? They would very soon be a drooping, shapeless mass. They are +formed for a different element, and could not nourish under water, +especially salt water. + +Just so ocean-flowers, and sea-tints can only live in their own element, +which is not air, but water. And the faces on our water-pansies--for we +have them--would soon fade in what to them would be lifeless air, just +as the garden pansies would lose their bright faces in the salt sea. + +Great quantities of seaweeds float ashore and are often dried and used +as fuel, or perhaps are put around garden plants to make them grow. + +But nothing that grows on the land, or in the water, can exchange places +one with the other and keep alive. It is all very curious, and more than +I can understand. Yet every creature and every plant is fitted to the +place it grows in, and is natural to it. The food, the flowers, and the +land for the use of Folks, and the food, the plants, and the water for +the use of fishes, are just what the nature of each requires. What +wisdom! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +MY TREASURE GROUNDS + +Are you tired? No? Well, that is no great wonder. It is ever so much +easier to glide through the water on the broad back of a great fish than +to ride horseback, or in a car. + +My sails or fins flap quietly to and fro, the water parts readily to +make us a path, no rough winds blow away your hat, there is no danger +way down here that a boat will bang against us, and roll you off into a +cavern or a cave. + +Now I am taking you into deeper water, which still is not so very deep, +but I want to show you some other strange things in the world I live in. + +Here we go sailing in and out of rocks, but do not be alarmed, I know +them all. Perhaps you wonder what it is that we keep pressing against, +something soft and smooth that sends extra sprays of water over us. What +can it be? + +Well, now, put on your thinking-cap. What does your mother wash the +baby with? What does Michael wash the carriage with? And what is that +object in the wire holder in the bath-tub? + +"Ah, a sponge!" you exclaim. Yes, and here is where they grow. "What, +sponges grow?" you ask. Certainly. And just as with the coral, it took +Folks a long time to find out whether sponges were plants, shrubs, or +insects. + +Now it is decided that the sponge is an animal growth. And the same as +with coral, the tiny creature that it starts from dies, and out from the +skeleton, or frame, branches the sponge that sometimes grows very large, +and sometimes is of a kind that remains small. One may be as big as a +mop, others no larger than an egg. + +Down in the blue Mediterranean Sea are found the best sponges that grow. +They are called "horny sponges," and grow in great masses, fine, yet +tough and durable. A sponge from the Mediterranean, called the "Turkey +sponge," will cost three times as much as a coarser, more brittle one +from other waters. They are porous, or full of little holes and hollows. + +We fishes like to bang against the sponges and feel the sudden spray +dash over us. Water we have all around and about us, but a shower-bath +is not as common a thing. + +When you buy a sponge, it is round, flat, or cone-shaped. Now see what +they look like under water. Here is a little tree, you say. Oh, no, it +is only a mass of sponges piled together and branching out as they grow. + +Here are fans, arches, tiny caves, and many different shapes forming a +sponge-garden. Queer, isn't it? Oh, lots of things are queer until you +learn about them. + +Would you like to see how I wash myself? Don't laugh so loud, you might +scare the fishes. I know very well that it seems to you as if I was +washing or bathing all the time, but there! Some kind of a water-bug has +plumped right down onto my head, and left a lot of sticky sand on it, +that the water does not wash away. + +Now don't be alarmed. I won't let you be swept from my back. I am only +going to wash my head. See me swim directly under this mass of sponge, +swaying out from a rock. There will be no bits of sand clinging to me +after I have been sponged a few moments. + +Here is a sponge that looks as if almost as large as your sun when it +rises out of the water, but if you squeeze that fellow dry--the sponge, +not the sun--it will not begin to be the size it is now. You could press +it into a bowl of moderate size when dry, but then take it to the pump +or the faucet, fill it with water, and my, what a balloon! + +Sponges were once called "worm-nests," and were thought to be a mere +kind of seaweed. But looked at under the sea, it would be known at once +that they are neither nest nor weed. + +Once in awhile sponges seem to spring directly up from the mud without +anything to cling to, but generally they are fastened to rocks or large +stones, and spread out and out from them. Here they look so much like a +kind of herb, that Folks who make a study of things in nature, and are +called naturalists, for a long time took them to be a kind of sea-plant, +and for years it was a puzzle as to just what they were. + +All are full of pores or layers of small cells, and some are quite +pretty from having a fringe about the cells like eyelashes. There are +others curiously shaped, looking like coral sprays, and here and there +they look like helmets; then there is another form that seems to have +long fingers running out, and is called "mermaid's gloves." + +The form called "Venus flower-basket," large and basket-shaped, might +answer for a mermaid's work-basket, and hold her thimble, scissors, and +thread. You had better take care! A mermaid may be near this very +moment, and hear you laughing. And remember, she could spin you round +from one end of the sea to another, then leave you high and dry on a big +rock in the middle of the ocean. + +Now, on what do sponges feed? Dear sakes, as if they fed on anything! +Yet they do. Although they branch and bunch out in the forms described, +yet they do not roam about, but only float or swim out as far as they +can stretch themselves while firmly fastened to a rock. Here they take +in specks or particles that float through the water; they pass through +the open pores of the body, and answer for food. The water constantly +passing through them serves to refresh and keep them round and healthy. + +Here we come to a perfect thicket of sponges, and see the fishes playing +"tag" all around and about them. There! that sly little fish, like a +salt water pickerel, nipped the tail of that great clumsy +porpoise--porpus--so hard, I heard the big fish grunt. The teeth of a +pickerel are fearfully long and sharp. + +Oh! Oh! What is that most beautiful thing we see shining with a faint, +sweet glow, down at the bottom of the sea? It is in plain sight, nestled +in the heart of a conch-shell. It is round, has a milk-like murkiness, +yet pinky, changing lights like tiny stars, that glint and gleam as you +look upon it. + +Now believe me! Of all the treasures of the sea I have told you of or +shown you, this is far and away the most precious. + +It is a pearl. Only once in a great while will so perfect and so +valuable a gem be found near my deep water home. And although we are not +so very far east, yet it would be called an "Orient," or an "Eastern +pearl." + +Perhaps it has floated in its polished pink bed from a far eastern sea. +I told you a little while ago that I must explain what an oyster had to +do with Folks that sported too many jewels, and why it might be amused +at the sight. + +Did you know that inside of an oyster-shell grew the lovely, costly +pearls that Folks will give a great deal of money for? Why, Queen +Victoria of England had a Scotch pearl that cost two hundred dollars. +Queens and princes, rich Folks, jewellers, and dealers in precious +stones, will give great sums of money for necklaces, brooches, or rings +that have in them the precious Oriental pearls. + +I had to listen very hard to find out what I did about pearls. But I +found that they have been known, talked of, and written about, almost +ever since the beginning of the world. + +Oyster-beds are generally much nearer the shore than most kinds of +shells. It is said to be when an oyster gets restless or uneasy that a +strange substance enters the edge of the shell, and after a time a pearl +is formed. And while many pearls are found in oyster-shells, they also +are often found fastened to the pink bosom of a conch-shell. + +There are black pearls of much value, but though rare, they are never +half as beautiful as a white or pink one. Some pink pearls are very +lovely, and when large-sized, are also very expensive. + +The pearl we see lying here is a splendid white one, and my! the money +it would bring! Pick up that shell, carry it with you to a jeweller, and +see the dollars the fair round gem will bring to your purse. You could +buy yourself beautiful clothes, or a pony, or could have with it a fine +party, flowers, favors, treat and all. + +What? Don't dare to? Oh, me, me, what a little coward! I can't pick it +up very well. If I took it in my mouth, down my throat it would go. If I +tried to catch it up with a fin, over into the water it would bounce. + +Never mind. Look at the sweetly beautiful conch-shell, with the +splendid gem resting so softly on its pink, polished side. And let me +tell you what I think. + +The opinion of a fish, even a great lordly one, may not be worth much, +but to me that exquisitely lovely stone, reposing on that exquisitely +lovely shell, is a far more beautiful thing to look upon than the jewel +ever could be when fitted into the costliest setting of gold. + +Now it is just as it was made, and I think that Whoever formed and set +that pearl knew more about real beauty and fitness, and what is simple, +natural, and very beautiful, than all the Folks and jewellers in the +world. + +Look at that white splendor. Don't you agree with me? + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +WHAT I SAW ONE DAY + +Now I do not know how brave an English lord may be or how much it may +take to scare him, but I, Lord Dolphin, inhabitant of the great +Mediterranean Sea, was scared nearly out of my wits and skin by the +sight I saw one day. + +But there is this to comfort me: if I was a coward at the sight, there +were plenty of other creatures in the sea to keep me company. Mercy on +us! Such a scuttling and rushing, such a whisking and a whacking, flying +and plunging, I for one never saw before. There was actually a chorus of +flapping fins and thumping tails as we raced for our lives. + +Was it a steam-engine or a monster boiler that was coming right down +from upper regions into our midst? Or, had some new sea-monster fallen +from the skies to drive us from our hunting and fishing grounds? + +We knew something about sea-lions, the huge creature that you may have +seen at the Zoo, or in a tank at the park, lifting itself like an +enormous sea-horse, and roaring like the animal whose name it bears. But +a sea-lion would not have cut through the water from way above. It would +have come steering along like a great black vessel, puffing and blowing, +while all the time it would have been a creature of the sea, and we +should have known it, and not have been so terrified. + +Or, had a whale come bearing down from upper waters, as they sometimes +do, there would have been a disturbance first, made by the spouting and +slashing that our instinct at once would have told us came from some +monster of the deep. + +Or, again, had it been the hulk of a vessel that could not stand some +violent storm, oh, yes, we should have known what that was, too. But +now, off tore the fishes, mad with terror, big fishes, little fishes, +fat fellows, lean fellows, pleasant ones, and grumblers. + +I laughed, yes, with all my fright I had to laugh at such a funny sight. +I was behind what Folks call "whole schools of fishes," only they speak +of "a school of fish," meaning many of one kind, but the madcap crowd I +looked upon was made up of almost every size and sort. + +[Illustration: "OFF TORE THE FISHES, MAD WITH TERROR"] + +I saw a porpoise--porpus--my enormous cousin, all of fifteen feet +long, crowd in midst a multitude of swift little swimmers, as if he +meant to make them help in spinning him through the water faster than he +could go by himself. Then on the back of another Dolphin, I saw a crowd +of little fishes that seemed so stiff with fear, they had been knowing +enough to cling to the back of the great fish, making a boat of him to +bear them to a place of safety. + +Paddling sideways, I caught a glimpse of the flying-fish that had been +my tormentor. All at once I stopped short. + +Now they say that some Folks are very curious. I do not mean that they +are odd or amusing to look at. But they have curiosity, and want to peer +and pry into things. It is not at all nice to want to find out all about +other Folks' affairs. It belongs to a poor, mean nature to want to do +that. But to want to inquire into matters for the sake of getting true +knowledge is right and worthy even for a fish. + +And suddenly I had determined to see just what that amazing creature +could be. If it caught and swallowed me alive, it might, but--it would +take a pretty big swallow to make away with Lord Dolphin. I confess to +going to work very much like a sneak. But it was quite easy, seeing all +the other fishes had made off and left me a clear field, to hide midst a +bed of tall sea-bushes. + +So, very gently back I paddled, with motion slow and noiseless, to the +region where the monster had come down. + +How shall I describe it? In the first place, I had never seen such a +shape before. The time when I was borne aloft on high waves, and looked +into a ship's cabin, I saw forms something like unto this one in some +respects, but, dear sakes, not with such hideous parts! But now, to name +at once and describe afterwards,-- + +It was a _diver_! + +The diver belongs to the Folks family, but, bless us, his rig! Imagine, +if you can, a black object, with a great bunchy machine of a head, and +for the rest, a mass of fixtures, such as would puzzle a far more stupid +creature than a Dolphin to make out. + +I have seen a diver many times since then, and am now able to tell a +little about the fantastic-looking being. Of course, there is very much +more to be known, but if you remember what I say, it will give you some +idea of a diver's outfit that may linger in your mind, to be added to as +you grow older. + +First, then, close to his skin are warm woollen garments, sometimes two +or even three sets of them. If the weather is cold, he may have on two +or three pairs of warm stockings. How would you like being bundled up in +that way? Yet that is only the beginning. + +Close to his head is a woollen cap coming down over his ears. Thick +shoulder-pads keep his outside suit from grazing or hurting, and it may +be that other pads are about his body. He next goes into an outside suit +of India rubber, covered both inside and outside with a tanned twill +which is water-proof, and the rubber itself has been treated in a way to +make it very hard and lasting. There is a double collar about the neck, +of tough, sheet rubber, and one is to draw well up about the neck. + +He must have assistance in getting into these rigid clothes, for it is +hard working the arms into the stiff sleeves, and forcing the hands +through cuffs which are made to expand or let out as they are drawn on, +then close tight in some odd way with rubber rings and joints at the +wrist, making the sleeves perfectly air tight. + +Great care is taken in dressing the diver. Everything must fit +perfectly, every screw must be properly wound in, every strap and buckle +made fast, or the poor diver may be in great danger. His breastplate of +copper is fastened on with metal clasps or bolts. A fixture at his back +steadies the weights both back and front, weighing forty pounds each. +These weights, it must be, are in some way supported by the ropes with +which they let him down. + +Such boots! Stout leather, with soles of lead, securely strapped on, and +weighing at least twenty pounds each. A band fitted about his waist is +kept in place by strong braces. + +Then his helmet! Tinned copper, and full of screws, pipes, and hooks. On +the face part were three openings as in a lantern, in which were screwed +plate-glasses, or bull's-eyes. These, of course, were to see through, +and stood out like little telescopes, or half-tumblers, with brass +frames around them called "guards" which protect the glass, that is +thick and strong. + +There were also queer valves, or tubes, in the helmet for letting out +bad air, yet so contrived that no water could get in. A hook was on +either side, through which ropes must pass. + +The diver can breathe while under water by means of an air-pipe, and by +pulling on a life-line, can make his wants known to those above. + +When the diver is all ready to descend, a man at the pump begins +supplying him with air, and down he goes, first on an iron ladder at +the vessel's side, then on long ladders of rope, with heavy weights at +the ends. + +I peeped from midst great weed-pads, and saw the diver as he reached the +bottom of the sea. Do you wonder I trembled, yet was amused at what I +saw? In his hands this time--for I saw him more than once after +this--was a great hook and a light bag with a wide-open mouth. And what +do you think? He had come to get sponges from the blue sea. Of course +not at very great depth. + +He knew his work. With the long hook, sponge after sponge was torn from +its clung-to home on the slippery rocks, and quickly popped into the +bag. He always moved backwards. If anything stopped him, rock, wreck, or +floating weeds, he could turn slowly and carefully around, and see what +it was. But should he meet an object suddenly at the fore, it might +break even his shielded glass. Then he must immediately give the signal +to be raised aloft. + +Divers must begin by going down only a little way under the water, as it +takes great skill and long practice to be able to go safely into deep +water. A diver has about him a coil of line connected with the ladder, +which he unwinds as he moves away; but by winding it about him again, +he can find his way back to the ladder. + +If two divers go down at the same time, I notice they take great care +not to let their air-lines or life-lines cross each other's, and so get +entangled. It might be a very serious affair to get them mixed. + +I see that divers may go down from either a barge, a sailing vessel, or +a large yacht, but there must be a deck that can hold the necessary +machines and rigging to help them in their work. By casting down heavy +pieces of lead, the sailor-Folk can "sound," or tell the distance to the +bottom of the sea. The diver's line must always be twice the length of +the distance he goes down. + +I did not find this all out at once. Oh, by no means, but by not running +away I gradually learned a great deal. And I was so glad I saw the queer +performance! The frightened fishes were not quick to come back to their +playground, where such a looking object had come swinging down, and when +he came again the next day, and the next, I had the place to myself, and +watched while he pretty well cleared that region of its fine, valuable +sponges. + +The next time I saw a diver it was in deeper water. I was sporting to +and fro at another time when there was just such a panic among the +fishes as I had seen before, and just such a scramble. + +Down, down came the fearsome looking object, while I mixed myself in +with a mass of sea-flowers, and keeping perfectly still, was not +noticed. The diver's dress was much the same as the other's had been; he +went backwards in the same cautious way, but instead of a long-handled +hook, he carried only a queer bag that was let down to him by ropes. + +The bag was deep, and had a frame along the top, with a scraper fastened +to it. And what do you think again? He began scraping in all the +conch-shells he could see that had what looked like a dab of mud or a +milky spot on the side. + +He was after pearls! + +Divers often fish for pearls midst oyster-beds, and in more shallow +water, but there are nets or dredgers also used for that purpose. But I +at once knew that very valuable pearls must often be found in +conch-shells and deep-sea oyster-shells, as the diver scraped in all of +both that he could find. + +Remember! All kinds of shell-fish are called "mollusca," have white +blood, and breathe not only in the water, but also in the air. + +And will you believe it? I have found out considerable about the signals +that a diver gives to the man at the pump on deck. + +If he wants to be pulled up, be gives the life-line four sharp pulls. +If he wants more air, he gives one pull at the air-pipe. Two pulls on +the life-line, and two pulls on the air-pipe, given quickly one after +the other, mean that he is in trouble, and wants the help of another +diver. One pull on the life-line means "all right." + +There are many other signals I could not find out the meaning of, so can +say nothing about. My instincts, as well as what I have noticed, tell me +that a diver must be in the best of health, must be rather thin, have +excellent eyesight, sound lungs, steady nerves, and a strong heart. The +work is not easy. I wonder if work that pays well is often easy? I do +not believe it is. + +There used to be a strange machine in use called the "diving-bell." A +great cast-iron cage, shaped something like a bell, let down by ropes, +and so heavy that its own weight would sink it. Divers could sit inside, +and fresh air was supplied by a force-pump. Bull's-eyes of heavy glass +let in the light. + +This must have frightened the fishes quite as much as did the diver, +although it was not as frightful in appearance. + +After a time, when the diver came down, some of my mates, seeing I was +not a bit afraid if only hidden from sight myself, stayed near me under +the broad seaweeds, but most of them fled far and wide at his approach. + +The divers themselves are not free from danger. Great sea-serpents or +sharks sometimes make it hot for them, but they are watchful, spry, and +being "Folks," with power to think and plan, can generally look out for +themselves and their safety. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +MY STRANGE ADVENTURE + +Now come the most exciting and in some respects the hardest events of my +life thus far. + +I have told of my great love of music, and have also said that the +Dolphin family is a very sociable one. Yes, and I could grow fond of +Folks, I know, if only they could live in the sea, or I could live on +the land. But as neither of these things can be, I must be content with +liking them at a distance. + +One afternoon I was full of sport, and felt lively as a cricket. Oh, +yes, I know the small, frisky fellow you call a cricket, with his little +old black legs, and have heard him sing. So on this calm and lovely +afternoon I began leaping upward instead of forward, and all at once I +heard sounds of music floating across the upper sea. You can believe I +floundered alongside, and oh, such sweetness as trilled out into the +clear air! + +The truth was, a great steamer was crossing the Mediterranean with a +pleasure party on board. What I heard was the music of a brass band. My! +My! Isn't it enough to delight the heart of any creature that has ears +to hear? It actually would make a fish dance. + +Now I didn't know it, but I made such plunges upward that my great dark +body could be seen in the clear water, and some sailors began "laying" +for me, half suspecting what might happen. + +Well-a-well, I got so full of music, joy, and friskiness, that all at +once I gave a tremendous jump, and flounced right on to the deck of the +fine steamer. Had I not been so utterly surprised, I should immediately +have flounced back again to my ocean bed "quick shot," as I afterward +heard a sailor say. But dear, deary me! I hesitated just a moment too +long, and when I made a flop intending to bounce away, lo! a stout rope +was about my body, and another about my tail, and I was a prisoner! + +Then the Folks all gathered about me, and the sailors went laughing off, +saying something about "making the fellow's bed." + +Oh, it was all very strange and unnatural. And in a few moments I began +panting for breath. Just as you would gasp, if by accident you popped +over from a boat into the water. Only you would gasp for want of air, +and I was gasping from too much of it. + +But it was not long before I was taken to a side of the vessel, and +after straining and tugging with my great weight, I was indeed bounced +into water, but when I tried to swim, oh, misery! what kind of a place +was I in? + +Only a tank, some twenty feet long by fifteen feet wide, filled with sea +water! + +Truth was, there was a man-Folk on board who had caught, and wanted to +carry to a great park in some far-distant land, a crocodile. Boo! a +great sea-reptile that I wonder any one should want to have around, even +as a curiosity. It had been taken from the river Nile in Egypt, much +farther up the Mediterranean borders than I had ever been. + +The crocodile did not live, so I was put into its tank, and that was the +"bed" the sailors had made, by filling it with salt water. Shade of my +royal grandfathers! how long I could live in such pinching quarters was +a question. + +I was given plenty of herring--so called--and other kinds of fish to +eat, and "Folks" visited me about every hour of the day. There were +children on the steamer, pretty little dears, that never tired of +talking to me, and between them all, passengers, sailors, and the +children, I learned how Folks talked, and a great many other things +besides. + +One fine, manly little fellow visited me constantly. He was voyaging for +his health, and took much pleasure in sitting beside the tank, book in +hand, yet watching my movements, and once he said something that made me +wish I could talk in the language of Folks. Yet before I tell what it +was, I want to say that there was one thing I did not like at all, but +was not able to let the Folks know it. + +The sailors called me "Dolly!" A great name to give a lord of the sea, a +fellow bearing the title I owned! + +The next morning after my capture, a really fine Jack--sailors are all +"Jack," you know--came rolling toward my tank, and sang out in +sea-breezy fashion: + +"Hulloo, Dolly-me-dear, how do you find yourself to-day?" + +I liked his hearty manner and cheery voice, but, dear me, I was "Dolly" +to every man-Jack on board after that, and to all the others as well. + +So this dear little man once said to me: + +"Oh, Dolly, how I wish you could tell me about things under the sea! I +know if you could only talk my way, you could tell stories by the hour, +and what pleasure it would be to listen." + +"Stories, indeed, my pretty," I thought, and I did wish I could open my +wide mouth and entertain the little fellow with a few sea yarns. And now +that in some way I can make Folks understand me, I only hope that my +young steamer friend, among others, will see and enjoy Lord Dolphin's +story. + +Then the lady-Folks were fine, with their pretty dresses, nice manners, +and soft voices. But I did so like the children! One cute little nymph +of a girl was crazy to get near me, yet nearly scared to pieces if I so +much as looked at her. Oh, she was so fair to see, with her golden hair +flying back in the breeze, eyes blue as the sky, and her sweet, dimpled +face full of smiles! + +She would come running up to the tank with a great show of courage, +crying bravely: "Hi, old Mister Dolly! I'se goin' a-put your great eye +out!" But when the eye half-looked at her, off she would scud, and all I +could see was a mass of flying yellow hair, a whisking of snowy skirts, +and my little nymph was gone. + +[Illustration: "ONE CUTE LITTLE NYMPH OF A GIRL WAS CRAZY TO GET NEAR +ME"] + +A dozen times a day she would appear, and as long as I remained under +water, she would hover near. There was a railing around the tank, which +was sunk in, lower than the deck, so she could not fall in, nor could I +possibly get out, but as soon as my head began rearing above the water, +scoot! little Amy was missing. + +We had no hard storm while steaming over the bright Mediterranean. But +one day the little man, whose name was Roland, said to wee Amy: + +"Clear day, isn't it?" + +And Amy replied, woman-fashion, "Yes, booful day, but what sood you do +if there comed a big storm, and we all went ricketty, rockerty, and +couldn't stand up single minute? Wouldn't you be 'fraid?" + +"N-o," said Roland, speaking slowly and thoughtfully, "I don't think I +should be much afraid, but I should want to keep quiet and think. What +should you do?" and he smiled. + +"Oh, me would say my prayers, and keep a-sayin' them," said the child, +soberly, then she added, "and up would go my prayers into the sky, and +so I needn't be frightened a bit." + +Now I don't know in the least what "prayers" mean, but I remembered at +once what that other child had done in the storm, and it made me think +that the Friend the other little girl trusted lives up in the sky, and +can hear when Folks tell that they need help. How lovely! Really, Folks +ought to be very thankful for all they know! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +LORD DOLPHIN ON LAND + + +Well, we sailed and we sailed, but it was poor sailing for me, and every +hour I longed to make a monster jump, clear the railing, and splash into +the splendid bed beneath the cooped-up tank. + +But Folks know how to make things strong and secure, and once or twice, +when I tried leaping, it was only to bang my sides against the edges of +the tank, and spatter the deck far and wide, making extra work for the +sailors. + +After a time, we ran through what Jack called "the Strait of Gibraltar," +and were in the great Atlantic Ocean, and one day Jack said to me: + +"Now then, me hearty, we're making a bee-line for New York City, and +it's a big tub they'll be giving you at the fine park, I'm thinking." + +So I knew I was to take the place of the crocodile, and be made a show +of. + +I tried to make the best of things. Folks amused me by standing near +the tank and talking about affairs. The band played delightfully. Salt +water was freshly supplied me every day or two. I learned that my fare +was much greater than any other voyager's on board, that is, it cost +more to carry me. + +But think of a passenger that would have been perfectly thankful to have +been thrown overboard! I was that same fellow. + +After about ten days, which seemed like a year to me, there was great +excitement all around. Such a running and tramping, such a waving of +hats and handkerchiefs. Ah! we were landing. Roland came to my side and +exclaimed: + +"Good-by, Dolly, old boy! I may see you sometime in your new quarters." +Little Amy lisped a hurried, "By, by, Dolly, good Fishy!" and after an +hour or two, all the passengers had left the boat except the man who +owned me and myself. + +Nor was I moved until the next day. Then I was made to swim into a +smaller tank, not much longer than I am, in which I could not have +lived, it seemed to me, a single day. + +[Illustration: "I WAS GIVEN MY FIRST RIDE ON LAND"] + +But I was next boosted, tank and all, on to a great dray, drawn by +creatures called "horses." Sailors joked, drivers laughed, a crowd +peered at me with eyes full of wonder, and I was given my first ride +_on land_, yet in what to me was a mere puddle of water. + +Ah, how new and strange! The jolting and the bouncing, the noise, the +whistles, the voices, rattling of heavy wagons, booming of cars overhead +and along the ground, strange calls and ringing of bells, the whole +mixed racket nearly stunning me, for my hearing is very acute and sharp. +I cannot tell you how distracting it all was to a poor, pent-up fish. I +felt like anything but a "lord" then. + +And what was this unknown matter floating into my squeezed-up basin? +Dust! Something I had never seen before, and--I didn't like it! + +The sea for me, first, last, and forever! + +At the park I must say things were fine, and could they only have been +more natural, I should have had considerable fun. I found that a Dolphin +on land, although kept in a small square pond, was indeed quite a +curiosity, both to young Folks and older ones. + +I imagine that a quantity of coarse salt was thrown every little while +into the larger space now given me, else I could scarcely have lived. +But my keepers were attentive and kind, the young Folks threw me many +kinds of strange food, and "Bless my lights!" as Jack would say, what +kind of things do Folks live on! + +Great quantities of little oblong balls, snapped out of a shell, +different from any kind of shell I had ever seen before, were thrown me +nearly every hour of the day. Oh, yes, they were called "peanuts." +Really, I liked them, only it took about a hundred to get enough to chew +on. + +Then there were white things, making me think of some small shells, as +there were peeps of yellow inside. Ah, I remember again, they were named +"popcorn." I preferred the peanuts. + +I didn't know what to think of "taffy." Jinks! how it stuck to a +fellow's jaws! Bah! the whole lot of stuff called "candy" was too sweet +and sticky. + +Some jolly-looking people that came to the park for what they called a +"picnic," tossed me queer food named "doughnuts," and "ginger-snaps." +Yes, I liked them, too, particularly the snaps. Then there was an +everlasting fruit named "banana" that I liked at first, it was so soft +and slipped down so easily, but I had too much of it, and grew tired of +it. + +I grew tame, would raise my great head close to the strong wire-netting, +and over would come all kinds of what Folks call "treats." Once, +however, a man-Folk threw me part of a small round, dark roll or stick, +such as men-Folks put in their mouths at one end, and send out smoke +from the other end. + +Boo, bumaloo, what stuff! bitter and horrid! Men-Folks must have a queer +taste to enjoy tasting and smoking such black, weedy things. One taste +of a "cigar" was enough for me. + +I was sorry not to see the boy Roland or the little girl Amy again, but +I think they may have gone to some other land-place, and so could not +come to the park. But although I saw so many other pleasant young Folks, +I did not forget them. + +Then, to my sorrow, just as I was getting used to things, although +always in a homesick way, I heard the keepers talking, and learned that +I was to be moved to another great city, where there was to be an +"exposition," or a showing of strange and useful things from many +different lands and seas, really an "exhibition." + +I began growing flabby and thin. My spirits were at ebb-tide, very low. +I felt as if pining to death. Ah, me! I would have given all the pearls +of the ocean and sea, could I have got hold of them, to be back in my +own dear Mediterranean groves. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +HURRAH! + +Then the day came when I was again made to swim into that despised +little tank. It was put on to a dray as before, and I was given my +second ride on land. May it forever be my last! + +The roar of the great city again filled my ears, dust troubled my eyes +whenever I raised my head. I was faint, weary, and wretched. I could +feel that I had grown lighter from loss of flesh, because of the +unnatural life that I was leading. + +How I wished I might escape! That some great and powerful Friend would +help me. But I was only a fish, had only fins and tail to aid me, that I +knew of, and those were at present of but very little use. + +At length the boat was reached. There was some confusion, as they were +"short of hands," which it appears meant they had not as many men at +the dock as were wanted. But the tank was got on board, and men ran for +the railing that was to be put around the edge. + +Their backs were turned for an instant. Oh! Oh! could I give a mighty +lurch, bound over the deck-rail, and be free? No waiting this time! I +slashed upward in a tremendous "heave-to." Whack! I struck the rail, +wriggled quick as lightning over the side, and hurrah and hurrah! I was +swimming the wide, free river! + +Not my own sea. No, there must be first the shortest cut I could find +into the ocean and salt water, then there would be many days of sweet, +wholesome journeying and paddling before home grounds could be reached, +but reached they would be all in good time. + +Folks say that if Madame Puss, that land-creature who does not love the +water overwell, is carried miles from her home in the dark, she will +find the way back again. And I felt sure that, once out into the harbor, +I could strike a bee-line for a far opposite shore, cut through the +narrows at Gibraltar, and enter like a returning monarch on my own proud +domain, the fair blue Mediterranean Sea. Oh, hurrah again! + +I heard a loud and echoing shout as my great body splashed into the +water, caught the sound of rushing feet, and saw heavy ropes with +strange loops at the ends, that were flung overboard in hopes to +entangle me, and bring back their great fancy fish into that tank again. + +Oh, no, Mister Sailorman, and Mister Deckhand. No, no! I had seen and +felt quite enough of being on land, thank you, to last me all the rest +of my life. And as the Dolphin family is very long lived, I hope that +many years of sweet, delicious freedom, and enjoyment of my native +element, are yet before me. + +And if there was a great king of the Dolphins, as there must be a great +Friend of the Folks, that guides our affairs, I would send him a letter +a yard long, full of thanks for my freedom. It may be there is such a +king, but real knowledge of such things is way beyond me. + +I saw strange craft as I boomed along, always giving them a wide berth. +And such fishes! Did you ever see an angel-fish? Don't ever wish to if +you haven't. It ought to be called evil spirit fish. In appearance it is +one of the quaintest, ugliest creatures that swims the sea. Some Folks +call it monk-fish. It is all of four feet long, has fierce, goggly eyes, +and a round, wicked-looking head, that seems nearly separated from the +rest of its thick body by a thin, short neck. Then such a +vicious-looking tail! Oh, you had better keep clear of an angel-fish. + +A toad-fish looked like an enormous, swimming toad. Bless me! I caught +sight of a shark as I came well out into the ocean. He was more than +twenty feet long. Think of that! But they are thirty feet sometimes. His +great, fleshy, powerful tail takes him along as he looks from side to +side for his prey. I saw his pointed nose and his rows of awful teeth, +one over another. + +There are sharks that can bite a man in halves. Once in awhile we see a +shark in our Mediterranean, but they do not abound there. Yet now and +then Mister Diver-man has had to rush for his life to reach the friendly +ladder when the disturbance under water to right and left has warned him +that one of these sea-monsters was approaching. Oh, they are dreadful +creatures, and greedy, too. They will follow vessels for miles and +miles, expecting that cast-off food will be thrown into the sea, as it +often is. Their instinct tells them that food is likely to drop from +vessels, and it does, indeed. + +I also saw a sea-snipe, or trumpet-fish, but, oho, without a tooth! He +made me think of a scorpion that has a poisonous, dangerous tail. + +I came upon a funny sight while still in the Atlantic Ocean. A whole +school of whales went rushing along in a body, and pretty soon I saw +what it meant. Then it was more funny for me than for the poor whales. +Some whalers, men who go out in vessels to catch these enormous fishes +for their flesh, their oil, and their bones, were banging great heavy +pieces of tin of iron against stones, so frightening the whales that +they crowded in a body into a little creek or inlet. + +This was just what the whalers wanted them to do. Because, once in the +narrow place, so many of them could not escape, and it became easy to +capture them. Men-Folks do really know a very great deal. It makes me +afraid of them. + +An urchin-fish would make you laugh. Some call it a sea-hedgehog. It +looks as if covered all over with great thorns, and a baby sea-urchin +looks as if it was all ready to burst, it is so thick and round. + +A sunfish was an odd piece. It had round eyes, and the queer little fins +just back of its neck looked like shoulder-capes. It was so fat it had +to swim with a waddle. + +The herring I so much like for food are to be found in nearly all +waters, and abundant, sweet, and inviting. Famous ramblers they are, +going in great parties of thousands in number, through wide tracts of +ocean and sea. I have found that a great deal of "money," whatever that +may be, is made by Folks out of the herring fisheries, along the +Atlantic seacoast. + +And let me whisper: Do you like sardines? Well, some Folks say that +herring do not live in the Mediterranean Sea, that ancient Folks knew +nothing about them, but that what we know as herring are really +sardines. These are caught in great numbers, pickled in some way, then +soaked in oil, are put in little tin boxes, tightly sealed, and sent all +over the world. + +But let me whisper again, and this makes Lord Dolphin smile; it may make +you laugh. But honestly, they _say_ that immense numbers of little +herring, or alewives, a little fish very much like a herring, are caught +on western shores of the Atlantic, pickled, packed in oil, and sold for +sardines. + +Isn't it all very funny? If I eat sardines and call them herring, and +folks eat herring and call them sardines, why are we not square? But as +I want to be very honest in all I say, it may be that in speaking of the +herring I so much prefer, I ought to say they are found oftenest at the +far western part of the Mediterranean, where the ancient Folk were not +so likely to explore. + +After I had sailed for days, gliding like a streak through the deep, +untroubled water, I came again to the Strait of Gibraltar. + +Oh, with what a thrill of delight I saw this time, in these far happier +days than when last I passed through it, this narrow outlet from ocean +to sea. I went through first in a tank, I returned with the broad ocean +for my glorious bed. + +I know now that the strait was named for the enormous Rock of Gibraltar, +and that it once was called the Strait of Hercules. + +Now "Hercules" is another "myth" you will study about in those old Greek +fables called "mythology." He was one of the gods, and famed for his +tremendous strength. The story goes, that, coming up to a monstrous rock +in the Atlantic Ocean that entirely separated it from the Mediterranean +Sea, Hercules, wishing to pass through from ocean to sea, rent the great +rock into two parts, so making a passage through. And this was how the +narrow outlet came to be called the Strait of Hercules. + +Now, for many years the passage has been called the Strait of Gibraltar. +But the two great rocks at the entrance of the strait are called "The +Pillars of Hercules." + +Well, through the dividing narrows I darted, and was home again! + +And I am thankful to know three great and precious words that Folks have +taught me: Friends! Liberty! Home! Are there any better words than +these? Perhaps so. But I have not learned them. Yet Folks know so much +more than a fish, even a lordly one, can understand, that it is quite +likely they may be acquainted with words having a grander meaning than +these. + +But I, Lord Dolphin, traveller and story-teller, want to repeat, that I +am very, very grateful to any One I ought to thank, that I find myself +among friends again, free, and in my own glorious home, the bright blue +Midland Sea. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lord Dolphin, by Harriet A. 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