playground, where such a looking object had come swinging down, and when
he came again the next day, and the next, I had the place to myself, and
watched while he pretty well cleared that region of its fine, valuable
sponges.

The next time I saw a diver it was in deeper water. I was sporting to
and fro at another time when there was just such a panic among the
fishes as I had seen before, and just such a scramble.

Down, down came the fearsome looking object, while I mixed myself in
with a mass of sea-flowers, and keeping perfectly still, was not
noticed. The diver's dress was much the same as the other's had been; he
went backwards in the same cautious way, but instead of a long-handled
hook, he carried only a queer bag that was let down to him by ropes.

The bag was deep, and had a frame along the top, with a scraper fastened
to it. And what do you think again? He began scraping in all the
conch-shells he could see that had what looked like a dab of mud or a
milky spot on the side.

He was after pearls!

Divers often fish for pearls midst oyster-beds, and in more shallow
water, but there are nets or dredgers also used for that purpose. But I
at once knew that very valuable pearls must often be found in
conch-shells and deep-sea oyster-shells, as the diver scraped in all of
both that he could find.

Remember! All kinds of shell-fish are called "mollusca," have white
blood, and breathe not only in the water, but also in the air.