The sponger lay at anchor on the sponging ground for nearly a week
before the water was clear enough for work. Dick spent most of his
time sculling his dingy and soon learned to throw his weight on the
big sculling oar to the best advantage without going overboard very
often. One day while Pedro sat in the bow, they saw a 400-pound
loggerhead turtle lying asleep on the water. Pedro motioned to Dick
to scull up to the turtle and when the dingy was within three feet
of the creature he jumped on its back and seized the edge of its
shell just behind the head, with both hands. Pedro's weight was so
far aft on the turtle's deck that the bow pointed upward and the
reptile's struggles only served to keep its head above water and
thus carry the man comfortably on its back. Soon Pedro shifted his
right hand to the tail-end of the turtle and thereafter navigated
his living craft with ease. Dick sculled the dingy beside the turtle
and, while trying to make fast the boat's painter around the
creature, fell overboard. Pedro didn't know enough English to
express his feelings fully, and so talked Spanish for a while. Dick
thought he could get the rope around the turtle more easily if he
stayed in the water, and he finally succeeded, though the reptile
got one of the sleeves of his shirt while he was doing it. Then the
boy and Pedro got into the boat and pulled the turtle beside it. In
rolling the reptile aboard they shipped a lot of water and as the
turtle dropped suddenly to the bottom of the dingy Dick fell
backwards out of the boat. Pedro began to express himself in Spanish
again, and, as the sponger was less than two hundred yards distant,
Dick swam to it, leaving his companion to bail out the dingy and
scull it to the big boat. The boat's tackle was required to hoist
the turtle aboard, where it was turned over to the Cook, who
butchered it on deck. The heart of the reptile continued to beat for
hours after it had been removed from the body, so strongly that its