The water was clear as crystal, and of a bright greenish tinge which admitted of their seeing very distinctly the tiny fish of silver and golden hues as they darted to and fro; the violet and blue medusæ, and the cream-colored jelly-fish as big as a watermelon. There were angel fish of a bright blue tinge; yellow snappers; black and white sergeant majors; pilot fish; puff fish which could inflate their bodies until they were round as a ball, or flatten themselves to the shape of a griddle cake.
The cow fish attracted the boys' attention more particularly, for it had two horns, and its head was shaped exactly like a cow, and when one passed with a "calf" as Teddy called it, swimming by her side, both agreed that it was well worth suffering so much from the heat to see such a sight.
Fish of all colors and sizes swam around the yacht as if examining her hull, and the effect of such brilliant hues displayed through the crystal-like water was actually startling because of the gorgeousness.
Before they were weary of admiring this aquatic panorama Jake called their attention to a fisherman who, in a small canoe, was pursuing his vocation in a very odd manner.
In his boat he had a hideous looking sucking fish, around the tail of which was tied a long cord with a wooden float at one end. While the boys were watching him he dropped the monster overboard, and in an instant it darted at a medium-sized Jew fish, attaching itself to the latter by means of the sucking valve on the top of its head. Having done this he remained motionless, his victim seeming to be literally paralyzed, and there was nothing for the boatman to do but pull in on the float, disengage his animated fishhook by a dextrous pressure on the sucker after both had been drawn aboard, and send the repulsive looking servant out again.
Although the Jew fish must have weighed at least a hundred pounds, he was landed without difficulty, and Jake gravely assured his companions that a sucking fish could "pull up the whole bottom of the ocean providin' the rope on his tail was strong enough to stand the strain."
Then the engineer told a story which did not bear quite so hard on the imagination since it was absolutely true, and began by saying as he pointed toward the little fortification known as Montague fort: