Cheap and clap-trap as the music may be, it tasted
"real good," as Abner said, and I am quite sure that that Sunday
night was the best that any of us had spent for a very long time.
A long, sound sleep was terminated at dawn, when we weighed and
stood out through a narrow passage by East Island, which was
quite covered with fine trees--of what kind I do not know, but
they presented a beautiful sight. Myriads of birds hovered
about, busy fishing from the countless schools that rippled the
placid sea. Beneath us, at twenty fathoms, the wonderful
architecture of the coral was plainly visible through the
brilliantly-clear sea, while, wherever the tiny builders had
raised their fairy domain near the surface, an occasional roller
would crown it with a snowy garland of foam--a dazzling patch of
white against the sapphire sea. Altogether, such a panorama was
spread out at our feet, as we stood gazing from the lofty crow's-
nest, as was worth a year or two of city life to witness. I
could not help pitying my companion, one of the Portuguese
harpooners, who stolidly munched his quid with no eyes for any of
these glorious pictures, no thought of anything but a possible
whale in sight.
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