ge twelve-foot wings.

Alas, we can't see everything this trip!

[Illustration: A FLYING FISH.]

CHAPTER XIV

THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN

Now we are right out in the Indian Ocean, and it is a bright day with a
certain freshness in the air, instead of that horrible muggy heat that
made us feel so languid when we were in the Red Sea. Look over the
ship's side and watch the rainbow in the spray; that is one of the
prettiest things to see on board. As the vessel cuts through the water
she raises a frill of foam on either side--what the sailors call "a bone
in her mouth." The frill, rising to a continuous wave along the side,
catches the sunlight and a perpetual rainbow dances in it, changing
always but remaining ever. Whew! What a rush! Flying fish. Look at them!
These are the first we have seen so near; when they spring out of the
water like that and skim along in the air they are not doing it for fun,
but to escape a bitter enemy in the water, the bonito, a ferocious large
fish who preys upon them; he is their chief foe, but there are many
others also. They curve up all together like a glittering bow and
slither down again. In dropping back into the sea they make a kind of
pattering noise, though, of course, we are too far to hear it, and the
fishermen in the small islands near India make use of this in trying to
catch the bonito. They go out in boats specially built for the purpose,
with a kind of platform overhanging the stern; here they sit and make a
splashing with their paddles, at the same time using some little fish,
which they catch and breed in tanks, for bait. The noise attracts the
large fish, who think there is a shoal of the small fry about, and they
jump at the bait and are caught. The catch is often very good, and the
boats come back to the huts laden with the ogre fish, destined to be
eaten in their turn!

Have you ever thought what it must be like right down there in the deeps
below the green water? We can't see because of the light striking the
surface, but if we had a water-glass we could. This is a wooden funnel
like that made of paper by village shopkeepers to roll up soft sugar in.
At the broad end is a piece of strong glass, which is thrust under the
water, and by peering through the small end it is possible to make out
what is happening below if it is not too deep; anyway, we are too high
up out of the water to use one here even if we had it, but in a boat
near the coral reefs and islan