The Boy With the U. S. Fisheries Part 30

"The ones that look like the pictures of a brain?"

"Yes, those are called brain-stone or brain-coral. And those others, just the same shape only with little holes, instead of grooves, that's star coral."

"Then there seem to be some that look like a bouquet of flowers all stuck together."

"That's rose coral," was the reply, "and those are the three forms you see more generally."

"But where's the pink and red coral? If it's as easy to get at coral as this, I don't see why people don't come here and make a fortune."

"Fortunes aren't quite as easy to pick up as that. This coral has no market value; the variety that is used for jewelry comes mainly from j.a.pan and from the Mediterranean, and the governments of the various countries keep it under constant watch."

"That's why. I see now. Oh!" exclaimed the boy as some fish swam under the gla.s.s suddenly. "Just look at those angel-fish. They seem twice as brilliant as the ones I saw in Devil's Hole."

"Of course," the curator said, "you would expect them to look dull in dull surroundings. That is color protection. Here, everything is gaily colored and striped and streaked and dotted, so the fish are, too. That helps them to hide and be unnoticed. A plain-colored open sea fish could be easily seen."

"Look, sah," said Early Bird, turning to the boy, "Ah've got a little sailoh's choice, Ah caught this morning; Ah'll throw him in and yo' can notice how plain yo' can see him."

He tossed the fish overboard. The silver scales shone and gleamed brilliantly in the transparent water but Colin had barely time to notice what a conspicuous object it was when in a swirl of water a score of small fish of all sorts surrounded the morsel. But the groupers followed hotfoot and the little fish fled. Then came retribution, for, from a crevice in a near-by rock, out shot the eel-like form of a green moray and disposed of one of the groupers in short order.

"Did I tell you about the moray?" Colin asked, and on receiving a reply in the negative, he recounted the story he had heard in Devil's Hole.

The boy rather feared that Early Bird might make light of it even if the museum curator did not, but the darky remarked that he thought it was a good thing to let morays alone and that he had heard the story from other sources before. In the meantime the leader of the expedition had found a section of the reef which appealed to him and at his request Early Bird put out a small kedge anchor, holding the boat fast. The wind had dropped a good deal as the morning wore on and now the little sailing boat rocked gently over the gorgeous gardens of the sea.

"You told me," the museum official said, "that you were fond of drawing.

Here's a sketch block and some pastel crayons; see what you can do with them."

Colin lifted his eyebrows in surprise, but he took the sketch block and pad, hooking his water gla.s.s to the side of the boat as directed. His companion took a large water gla.s.s of a different character. It was right-angled with a lens at the end. In the joint of the angle was a reflector which threw the image upon a mirror immediately under the eye-piece.

"What's that for?" the boy asked.

"So that we can look at the reefs at their own level," was the reply.

"No matter how much you allow for refraction and foreshortening, you'll find it almost impossible to get correct values by studying a reef from the top only. You know how queer a place looks in a picture that has been taken from an aeroplane?"

"Yes," the boy answered.

"That's what we've got to avoid here. We are looking down on the reefs just as an aviator looks down on a city. This gla.s.s, however, will give me the proper perspective. You see I have made it something like a telescope so that I can add segment after segment and watch conditions even in fairly deep water. Now I'll show you how I'm going to manage it."

He took the long L gla.s.s with which he was working and fastened it by little hooks to the direct overhead gla.s.s which Colin was using, and as he did so the boy noticed that the two gla.s.ses were so arranged that they focussed at the same point of the reef, only that one viewed it from above, the other from the side. A little device worked by a thumbscrew varied the angle in proportion to the depth.

"Now," he was instructed, "draw in and color--as well as you know how--everything you see in the field of your gla.s.s. You've got all day to do it in, so there's no need for hurry. Remember, I don't want the color you think the sea-fans and other forms would be out of the water, but the color that they seem to you to be when looked at through the water."

"But I don't draw so awfully well, Mr. Collier," said Colin.

"You don't need to," was the reply, "it's the color that I want. There isn't a tint known that you can't find in those pastels and I want it as exact as you can get it. I'm going to do the same thing, you see, only from the side. The light will cause a good deal of difference, and I want to determine just how the shadows fall."

The boy had never had such crayons to work with and he was naturally a good colorist. He became so absorbed that he was quite unaware of the pa.s.sage of time and it was with something of a surprise that he heard the announcement of lunch. This was due to Early Bird, who, seeing that it was after noon, had unpacked the hamper and set out a good meal. Both artists dined heartily and Early Bird was not forgotten when the artists returned to their drawings. But although Colin worked as hard as he could, it was four o'clock before he felt that he had finished. The museum expert was also still at work when the sun began to fail to give a sufficiently direct light to pierce the water. Colin was eager to see his companion's sketch, but this was denied him.

"No," he was told. "We're coming here to-morrow, and I want you to do what I was doing to-day, while I do the overhead view."

"What's that for, Mr. Collier?" queried Colin, again.

"No two people see color values just alike," was the reply, "and while of course I don't expect you to make a perfect picture, still if your coloring and mine agree, we are nearly sure to have exactly the right shade."

"But if they don't?"

"Then we have two color conceptions, and it is easy for a third person to say which looks the most real to him. Early Bird, for example, could tell which looked the best to him, although, of course, he could not describe the color."

"Then we're coming back here to-morrow?"

"If the wind is suitable, yes."

Colin was simply aching with eagerness to see the other drawing but had to be content with the promise that he could see it as soon as he had done the duplicate, and not before, as he might be prejudiced thereby.

Before going home that day they dropped as a marker a heavy lead disk about six inches across, painted white, to which was attached a buoy, so that they could find the identical place again; and the following morning, when they came out, the buoy was picked up without difficulty and the boat moored as before.

The second day on the reefs was an exact counterpart of the first, except that Colin found it much more difficult to work through the L gla.s.s. To look down at a picture which was reflected sidewise made the drawing of it quite tricky until he caught the knack. Also, shadows under the water did not behave the same way as above. But, as before, the entire day was given to it, and though the boy had a headache when evening came, he had turned out a very respectable piece of work. The fun came in comparing them.

"You're somewhat of an impressionist," the curator said, as he examined Colin's two pictures carefully, "and you've succeeded in making your sketches look more submarine than I have. But I think your perspective is all out."

"I was afraid that it was," the boy replied, "though I tried hard to get it."

"What do you think of them, Early Bird?" the museum expert asked, "I won't tell you which is which."

The boatman, who had a full share of the intelligence and alertness characteristic of the Bermuda colored population, so excellently governed under British rule, examined the four pictures carefully and then said:

"Wa'al, sah, Ah think Ah like these two the best."

He handed back Mr. Collier's drawing of the reef from the side and the boy's sketch of the reef taken from above.

"I believe you're right, Early Bird," the scientist said, laughing, "the lad beat me out on that one." Then, as he put the drawings away in the portfolio he added, "And now we'll see how near we both came to the right thing."

"How?" queried the boy.

"We'll search a while for perfect specimens. A diver is coming along with us to-morrow and we're going to scour the reefs for fine specimens of coral, sea-anemones, sea-whips, black rods, purple fans, and all the rest of them. Those that we can preserve we will, but the sea-anemones we'll have to work on in the Aquarium on Agar's Island, where they have some magnificent specimens."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GORGEOUS SUBMARINE WORLD.

Golden sea-anemones, purple long-spined sea-urchins, orange-colored sponges, and corals upon the white sea-sand.

_Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, N. Y._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GARDENS OF THE SEA.

Where purple sea-fans wave under the crystal water. Note the angel-fish and various forms of coral.

_Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, N. Y._]

"In gla.s.s, you mean?" queried Colin. "I should like to see how that's done."

"Come to my laboratory in New York some time and I'll show you," his companion answered, "but I can't do that here. I have a specially prepared black paper here and I'll copy some of the anemone forms so that I can plan them in gla.s.s from my drawings. I'll go with you to-morrow, but after that you'll have to go out alone."