quite happy.

Quite happy. And do you not think that any one who took a gun and shot
either that mother or that child would be both cowardly and cruel?

But they might eat them.

These sea-birds are not good to eat. They taste too strong of fish-oil.
They are of no use at all, except that the gulls' and terns' feathers are
put into girls' hats.

Well they might find plenty of other things to put in their hats.

So I think. Yes: it would be very cruel, very cruel indeed, to do what
some do, shoot at these poor things, and leave them floating about
wounded till they die. But I suppose, if one gave them one's mind about
such doings, and threatened to put the new Sea Fowl Act in force against
them, and fine them, and show them up in the newspapers, they would say
they meant no harm, and had never thought about its being cruel.

Then they ought to think.

They ought; and so ought you. Half the cruelty in the world, like half
the misery, comes simply from people's not thinking; and boys are often
very cruel from mere thoughtlessness. So when you are tempted to rob
birds' nests, or to set the dogs on a moorhen, or pelt wrens in the
hedge, think; and say--How should I like that to be done to me?

I know: but what are all the birds doing?

Look at the water, how it sparkles. It is alive with tiny fish, "fry,"
"brett" as we call them in the West, which the mackerel are driving up to
the top.

Poor little things! How hard on them! The big fish at them from below,
and the birds at them from above. And what is that? Thousands of fish
leaping out of the water, scrambling over each other's backs. What a
curious soft rushing roaring noise they make!

Aha! The eaters are going to be eaten in turn. Those are the mackerel
themselves; and I suspect they see Mr. Whale, and are scrambling out of
the way as fast as they can, lest he should swallow them down, a dozen at
a time. Look out sharp for him now.

I hope he will not come very near.

No. The fish are going from us and past us. If he comes up, he will
come up astern of us, so look back. There he is!

That? I thought it was a boat.

Yes. He does look very like a boat upside down. But that is only his
head and shoulders. He will blow next.

"Hoch!"

Oh! What a jet of spray, like the Geysers! And the sun made a rainbow
on the top of it. He is quite still now.

Yes; he is taking a long breath or two. You need not hold my hand so
tight. His h