The truth was, a great steamer was crossing the Mediterranean with a
pleasure party on board. What I heard was the music of a brass band. My!
My! Isn't it enough to delight the heart of any creature that has ears
to hear? It actually would make a fish dance.

Now I didn't know it, but I made such plunges upward that my great dark
body could be seen in the clear water, and some sailors began "laying"
for me, half suspecting what might happen.

Well-a-well, I got so full of music, joy, and friskiness, that all at
once I gave a tremendous jump, and flounced right on to the deck of the
fine steamer. Had I not been so utterly surprised, I should immediately
have flounced back again to my ocean bed "quick shot," as I afterward
heard a sailor say. But dear, deary me! I hesitated just a moment too
long, and when I made a flop intending to bounce away, lo! a stout rope
was about my body, and another about my tail, and I was a prisoner!

Then the Folks all gathered about me, and the sailors went laughing off,
saying something about "making the fellow's bed."

Oh, it was all very strange and unnatural. And in a few moments I began
panting for breath. Just as you would gasp, if by accident you popped
over from a boat into the water. Only you would gasp for want of air,
and I was gasping from too much of it.

But it was not long before I was taken to a side of the vessel, and
after straining and tugging with my great weight, I was indeed bounced
into water, but when I tried to swim, oh, misery! what kind of a place
was I in?