parrot-like jaws of the loggerhead that when they were snapped in
his face they missed his nose by about an inch. The turtle was as
anxious to turn over as the boy, and, by favoring his motions, Dick
soon had the creature right side up, while he again rode
triumphantly on his back. In another hour the halyards were fast to
the turtle and Billy had made good his promise to ride it back to
the boat.

[Illustration: "DICK HUNTED ALL THE TURTLES HE SAW"]

When the water became clear the dingies were sent out with two men
in each, one of whom sculled while the other sat with his face in a
water-glass watching the bottom for sponges. The water-glass is a
bucket with a glass bottom which so smooths the surface of the water
as to produce the effect of a perfect calm to one who is looking
through it. The first day of sponging was like a dream to Dick. The
water was smooth as a mirror and no water-glass was needed. He
sculled slowly over water so clear that he seemed to be floating in
the air. Beneath him was fairyland, filled with waving sea-feathers
and anemones, paved with curious shells, strangely beautiful forms
of coral and sponges of various kinds, and alive with fish of many
varieties. Sometimes there floated on the surface of the water
Portuguese men-of-war, most beautiful of created things, like
iridescent bubbles, with long silken filaments, delicately lined in
pink, purple and entrancing blue. Lighter than thistledown, fitted
to drift with the merest zephyr, they can nevertheless force their
way against a breeze. Harmless as a soap-bubble in appearance, each
of them is charged with virulent poison, and when Dick touched one
with his hand he received a shock that made him wonder if a bunch of
hornets had hidden in that innocent-looking bubble.