Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/175

 reefs, we could see coral shrubs of pink, yellow, white, green, orange, — in fact, of all colors, forms, and sizes. There were also many shell-fish; and everywhere beautiful fishes were swimming among the coral branches. It was amusing to watch the shell-fish as they crawled from  their shells, and then dragged them behind. Beautiful orange-colored cowries, harp-shells, pearl oysters, conchs,  and many other odd-shaped shells and fishes were plainly  visible. There seemed to be continual war among these finny tribes and testacea in the midst of their fairy-like  regions. Sometimes a small fish would swim along over a shell-fish, when the latter would seize it and draw it  into his shell. When a lamprey eel or a shovel-nosed shark made his appearance, which was very often, every  living thing disappeared in an instant. The shell-fish suddenly crawled back into their shells; all the other  fishes quietly hid away among the coral bushes; and the  turtles drew their heads and feet well into their shells. We often saw small, ravenous, cowardly sharks gulp down many small fishes, more beautiful than butterflies or humming-birds. Frequently a lamprey eel would attack a large conch, tear the fish from its shell and devour it.

One morning our second officer, Midshipman Thompson, espied a beautiful Venus shell lying at the bottom, on the weather side of the boat. He partially undressed, and was in the attitude of diving into the water for the  shell, when a white, deep-sea shark, fourteen feet long,  swam from under the boat. The sudden appearance of the shark so completely paralyzed Mr. Thompson with  fear that he fell down in the boat unconscious, and it  was some time before consciousness could be restored.