THE TIGER OF THE SEA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10598, 29 October 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE TIGER OF THE SEA.

(By Charles G. D. Roberts.) it Through the broad, indolent, greenpurple swells, ruffled*and crisped along ?J their tops by a mild breeze, the cow u orca. went wallowing contentedly, her calf swimming close.at her side. From l * time to time it rubbed against her, as " if apprehensive in face of the vast and ,' r perilous spaces of the ocean, seeking j 1 covert behind" her short, powerful, : ? flipper. And from time to time being ?: one of the most demoted and assiduous * of oil the mothois of the wild, she If „o;!d gather it caiessinglj to hci side *■' wrtl that gicat Hipper, "or, whirling c half aiound, touch, it inquiringly with r lior enormous, lounded snout. *■ She was a good twenty feet in length, * the- gicat orca—or "killer whale,"* as J she would have been dubbed by any *■ sailor or fisherman who.might have chanced to, cast eyes upon her.* She would -have been recognised at once l from all the _,othei members of her c whale-aud-pprwnse tribe by'the. im- l mense dorsal £n,.not far from five feet J high,, rising erect iLom the broad and ' massive black cuive of her back; by che tvo conspicuous white streaks on ' hei bJaok flank, and by the sharply ' defined ime of her ci cam-white belly as she i oiled lazily on the slope of a awe'! All these were dangei signals, which the knowing would have taken we to heed >. -Little cause for apprehension had the calt ot the. oica so long as it kept near

its mother, foi this most swift and sjiage of all the cetaceans feaied nothing that swam except her giant consul, the cachalot 01 speim-whalc Though but twontj feet long she would attack a£rd kill, " through the shcei feiocitv of hei fui\, the gieat whalebone 01 "right" whale, of fully four t'ines nei length and man} times hei bulk. Man she might e feared, had sue evei learned his power, but being poor in blubber hei tube hsd never tempted man to so difficult and penloiis a hunting Theie weie sharks, to be sine, that might equal or suipass hei in si7e, but none even to appioach hei in savagery, speed, 01 cunning i It was in caio-fi'-e content, theiefoie, that she lazed onwaid thiough the bland, untroubled sea, heedless alike of the surf on the jellou cliffs to her l'ght and of the emptj spaces of ocean to her left. Such attention as she could spaio fiorn the babj chaims of he* calf was given to seal Hung the tianspaiont deeps below hoi, wlieie linked the big sq'iid aiid sluggish, bot-tom-f"odni!_, fish on wh'ch she habitually pi e j cd Suddenly, with no sound but a gicat sucking guj'fle as the wateis closed aboie nei, she dnod. Fai down in the obscimty she had caught s'ght of a pallid, spiawhng foim. It ,was an | eetopu% which had hen so ill-advised ™s to leave its customaiv home among the locks of the bottom and seek new foec'ni!/ giovi'ds Bctoics it had time e\en t6 attcn.pt o~caoe the gieat |aws of the kiPoi engulfed it I'oi one morucnt its eight long tcutac.les wnthcd clutching at it= captoi's lips*. Then thc\ vanished, sucked ill «->nd swallowed at i gulp. Tlieienpon, the oica '.tilt d lcsuicU back to the sunLt smiaco, met on the »t< up b} li"i anxious calf, \, Inch had not b"en ouite quick en ugh to follow its mothci's lightning descent She had not bron two minute absent, and nei ji foi an instant'out of sight Rut the \Guiigstci's instinct wainid iL veil thit t'ic n lid blue olencnt m flinch 't dwelt uas ,full of daugeis The octopus, thought laigc one, had been but a mouthful foi the gieat killer, a stimulus, merel}, to hei vast appetite. She jouinejcd now with a keenei eje upon the depths. Presently the deep blue-green of the water began to change to a lighter, beryl hue, where a line of making leef came up to within some thnty feet of the smface and caught the sun Here, basking, lay a bioad. fiat, batlike creature, with wing-fins a dozen feet acioss, and a long, whiplike tail. Its cold, moveless eyes, staring upwaid, caught sight of the"killci's body slowly ploughing the surface. With an almost impeiceptiblo movement of the black w mgs it slia from the leef and plunged for refuge in the depths But the giant ray had not been quick or stealthy enough to e\ ads its enenij 's e>e. Again the orca drved, this time without heed of silence, and so swiftly that her bioad flukes, rising straight into the an, came down upon the water with a leport that lesounded all the .\aj mto the shore. Her descent was sti .light as a plummet's. The ray, seeing it, was seized with panic. It darted to one side, and shot upward again at a tenrfic pace, on a magnificent sweeping cur re With the force of that nprush it hurled its whole black, shuddeimg bulk clear into the air w heie it turned and for one instant hung, flap p.ng d.ukh as if the vei} madness ot its tenol had duven it to the conquest of .1 raw element. To the nervous calf it was a piodj<r\ of hoi 101, blotting out the sun. But this violent excursion into the air was of only, a second or two's duration, and futile as it was brief. As the flat, black wmgs came down again with an enormous splash, the pursuing oica aiose almost beneath them, seized them, and diAgged them undei. There was no light theia\ being powciless against its might} opponent—onlj a moment's blind'j frantic struggle in the foaming swnls, and then a spreading stain of led on the gieen sea.

This, now, was a fully sufficing meal even for such an appetite as the orca's and many neglected .fragments, of i went spreading and sinking away Li feed iripimerabl'e scavenging crabs tha lurked in the weeds and hollows of tin sunken reef. The orca, tor the nex half hour, or so, < remained where _sin was, rolling contentedly in the briglr water above the reef, nursing and ca ressiug her calf, and digesting her meal Then she slowly continued her journey slanting in toward shore till she was nol more than half a mile distant fron: the chain of precipitous islets anc broken promontories that fringed this dangerous coast. It -was now full noon, and the unclouded sunlight, striking almost straight downward upon the surface oi the sea revealed the bottom at an amazing depth. Poised about halfway down the glimmering transparency, a large squid or cuttlefish, was swimming, at leisure. His narrow, tapering body was about six leet in length, and perhaps fifteen inches in diameter at the broadest part, which was the head. From this formless head, seeming to sprout from it as a leaf-stalk does from the head of a carrot, grew a bunch .of tentacles, ten in number and of about the same length as the body. Body, and tentacles alike were of a pallid, dirty yellow-gray, with brownish spots—a color that made its wearer almost invisible in the suii-pene-trated sea.- The progress of the squid was backward, and he achieved it not by mpving his tenacles but by sucking a volume of water into a great muscular sac beneath the tentacles and forcibly expelling it. It looked as though he were breathing water and using it to blow himself along. The,orca 'nas by no means hungry, so soon after the feast th-vt, she had made on the giant' ray; but the succulent morsel of the-squid was a temptation "not to be, resisted. Tipping smoothly, her, huge,but finely-modelled black-and- = •.vhitp form shot straight downwaid shimmering flood. But before she could reach him the squid looked up and saw -her. On the instant; Iris ten loose tentacles tightened to a rigid bundle which offered no obstruction.' to his progress"; his pale sides contracted with" -a mighty convulsion, expelling a volume of water- which fchot liini"along witti-the speed of a torpedo from "its tube j and _.*>t the same time,

from a gland -nithin the propulsion sac, ho squnted forth a ]ct of mkv fluid which spread at once into a great cloud of black \eiling his flight. Behind that concealment he changed lus direction and fled downward toward a deep cievice in the rocky bottom, where he knew that the jaws of his enemy would not bo* able to leach him The oica, undeterred, plunged sti.tight onvard into the ink\ cloud' But once "well withm that gloom she - lost .til track of he.r intended pie-} She even foi the momenta lost herself ._ This wij and that* shot daited, snapping Jiei V'a'jC javs- v raTenousl>, but niMain: rhe\ closccl on ucthihg but tlic tdipty and"tainted watei Atilist, aiid ffuilo |rpin the Jji\d T glancmg--upTvard_"slie I _sa\\ a' sight "tjiat caused hei ij-o Hurl Jjerself jnadly to sweep "of 'fli*ke~s, stTqke !madfe- ?the 'deMks%Jbds>like^the- thrust -of r ->„ *$

The calf, having started to follow its mother into the depths, had been frightened by that inky cloud into which it had seen her vanish. Returning in a flurry to the surface, it was swimming around aimlessly and anxiously, when it caught.the oyo of a wandering "shark. The shark,' knowing very well What it was, 'looked around for the mother:

I!r 'lnii no desno to be uncivil to a, •.■ mothei oica i3ut tlicic was no mother lit in tight He did not understand it, ic, but lie was raginglj hungry, and such h an oppoilmnitj was quite irresistible. He lose at the calt w'ith a rush, and pi turned ovei'OU Ills side, exposing his 1, livid v.hite belly, to seize, the, prize. Tho k calf, appalled at tlie black, triangular, w manj.-toothed cavern that "gaped so sud- n donlv "before hrm, wuthed away ]tfst m o time", and began swimming' m , a big jj cntle around the spot where its mother il hid 'dived _ , v .' ; f> Again the shark rushed., but he had t to turn on his side to bring his curious h undeiset jaws mto play, and the calf <: of the orca had aheady tho. mmble,ness i of its tribe. Again the attack failed, g Befoie he could ippeat it, lie caught 1 sight of the mothei shooting up fiom ] the green depths. Though he was sonic twenty-five ieet m length —a good fne feet longer than tho oica —he turned 1 and fed for Ins life. i One glance assured, the mothei that ' hoi little one was unhurt. Then she. c darted after the aggiqssor at a pace 1 that made his flight quite futile. Ho i had not gone uft-> yauls when she was , upon him, open-jawed Huiline him- 1 self convulsnely aside ho just succeeded in evading that first losislless charge With the com ago oi despeia- ] t'on ho twisted himself about, tinned half ovei, glided beneath his advei- ] sar\'s belh, and caught at hoi with l bib* tilingular jaws. But she li.nl al,eadv sweived aside, and ho failed to get a fan K hold Ho did, indeed, loud out a mass of hide and blubbei . but l'p 1 cached no vital point and the ia<;ing "killei" haidlj felt the wound "Wlinlm'j, witli a violence that sent the loth and spiay spiriting into the an she caught the base of the shaik's tail between her immense j'ws So fai as aujthing like a fight uas concerned, this was tlie end oi it. I'm se\eial minutes tho gigantic stmggle , wont on, dashing the discolored watoi jaids high, but it was all on one side, as the oica shook and cius,''cd and loie , the life out of hei beitcn opponent At last she dicw off, leading a nanglcd , mass to sink slowly into the depths , Then, having snuggled tho excited calf under hei fin, and gncn him to niu'c, , she s-\ am slowl} inland tow aid the deep channel that heie ran between the islands and tho shoie, wheie she thought J she might hud some moie of llu so Siic- , culent squids to compensate lici foi x one that had so incons'doiatol} e\ jdetl , hei pppipprhcs i Tlip bippze, vhicli up to now hid r been little but a succession oi catspaws, ' settled i'ito a steach diaft, though not stiong enough to do moie than daiken 3 the bimace of tho tea to a hcav> puipl-> lhiraimn hoc beioie it, up alon>f I tlie coa&t—between the cliffs .Mid the islands —cm.e a small catooat, hei one sail minto m the ci" a sun-

shine...' i.' .The'tiny .'craft .contained two passent i;or's —the man at tlurliclrii, smokiiiy: a \ big brier pipe,- and a silky brown, retriever, curled ijp.'a't .the foot .of. the 3 mast":. It was a stern 'boast,'aii'cl a dani" geroiis water for such, a.cockleshell to 0 traverse; but the jiian was . a j. amateur, navigator of small craft, and 1 ho knew -that, 'between tho port that ho . had left, some"fifteen miles back down

] tie toi nd tin haiboi tin I'( \io t iik ii„ foi ■> mile sto Ji noi lli t theie weic plcnt\ of toil is whtiom hj" a could tike sheltei m •> =i dd 1 stor n should olow up ox t oj lie ei'-t JVusc w m cis -nue unfa to hi but he lnd a :pod chait and 11 is w 3 lii<- opn cn i delight —Ji oo stm, cl mi e \no\n nojfs with no co ipan oi shio luu th-t el his faithful and iccon [ moditin"- do r who al\"\s witl him a* uo the moot mteiesting pi ices to visit, t "" et theu2.li G n dnei \as an cvpcit e \aclitsnau with an e\c wise to all sijjns i of the and i i instinct that -> could feci uho |ralsc ol tl i wind thiough i tiller oi taut sheet, he knew so netl iii 0 loss of natmal histoi% tnm -was desn i. able foi one who made his plaj o iound s on. the peopled seas His notion of all i the A\Jiale tube and then \ir\ing cliai i actoro a cic based on \\h°t he had lead

of the great, timorous whalebone whale and what lie had seen of the playful and harmless porpoise. When, therefore, he caught" sight of the aiched black back and formidable head of the _orca, lazily ploughing the swells, it hover occurred to him that now was the time for discretion. Had he beeii a habitue of these waters lie -ivotild have turned his prow promptly in another direction, lest the orea should think' ho wanted to intrude upon her pn\ acy. As it was, however, lie sailed Hearer, to see what manner of fish or beast it might be, this black-and-white creature that treated his approach with indifference. Passing at a distance of eighty or a hundred yaids, Gaidner was seized with a fool idea. This was a good chance for a shot. The,unknown beast would form an inteiestitig tiophy. He did not stop' to consider \i hat lie should do wnh it if he bagged it. 1-3o did not stop to consider that with his light rifle he could not hope to do more than inflict a painful wound through the layers of blubber that would protect the vita-Is of this sea-monster. He did not know, either, that a dead whale sinks to the bottom, n!nd that therefore the most successful of ' shots could hi hip. him no rev. aid. Jt was enough that the instinct to kill something was upon hi-ii. He flung a knee over the tiller to keep his course steads, snatflied up the rifle, and tired at a spot behind the orc.i's big flipper—about wl:eio he judged the heart would li". As ho did so, the dog, realising that there was some excitement afoot, spiang up, put his forepaws on the gunwale and barked furiously at the strange black shape rolling in the swell. To Gardnei's astonishment, the monster itself made no immediate response to the shot; but instantly just under its flank, there began a wild commotion. Something there fell to threshing the water frantically; and the monster, swinging about, gazed at that something with great and anxious concern. She stroked it with her flipper as if trying to calm it; and than Gaidner saw that il was the young' of ihe monster that he had stiuek. Al this he K-lt full of lemoisc. Had he seen the calf he would not have fired at I either parent or little one. He was not i v. anionly cruel, but only thoughtless. For a few seconds he stared iriesolutely. Then, judging liom its actions that the calf had received a mortal ivound, he decided that ho ought to put it out of it's misery. Taking very careful aim, he fired again. The report echoed sharply from the cliff fate of an island not a hundred feet away. Gardner had made a good shot this time. Before the echoes of the report had died out, the calf lay still, and then, very'slowly bogan to "sink. There

\as stillness for a few seconds, bioken >nly by the excited barking of the irowii retriever. The orca swam slowy half around the body of her ;\oung, md apparently assured hcisclf that it vas dead. Then she turned her small •yes upon the boat. In that instant Taidner leahsed that ho had made a nibtake. Instmctivoly he headed for jheaocky islet. As he jammed the tiller over, at the same time hurriedly freeing his sheet, no saw the water boil about the oica'a black foim. She was a good hundred feet an ay. but so appalling was her uish that she seemed to be upon him in the same instant. With a jelp tlie dog sprang far up into tho bow. As the boat was at that moment broadside on to tho terrific attack, Gardner kept his seat and fired another desperate shob full m tho face of the on-coming doom He might have fired a ppa-shooter. 1 „"" , The gun drooped to his feet In the same moment' it was as if an expresstrain ha,d struck the boat. She was lifted boclilv from the water and v all one side riusli°d in, wJiilo Gardner felt himself hurled clean o\er the boom. ,Ae lie came down he heard a yelp from the blown retricvoi. "■ - Jn oidcr to escape entanglement in the iaii, v which slapped, sousing over on top of him, Gardnoi dived, and ranif> lip sojiie r fifleeii*'fcot bejoud. -To this/live, and td the momentary concealment 'afr'fpfdeC by *the "ho doubtless -owed liis life. ' tie^was"a swimmer, £nd luslantlyi started for,- the island' at ■sprintihg'epefid,; doing''tlie JBttoke,',- , J i?itli-liecd * most'" of> the&tfnieiirider; Hia 'pfea,: at -first,^didj

hoi obscive his escape. l'he unhappy duii, l)> his baikiug, had caught her c\e; and him she had seized and crushed the instant he was thrown into the v.c'iei-. Then, turning her fury upon' the wreck of the, boot, she had torn it and smashed it to kindling wood, sciaiiiLS it m her hugs Jaws and shaking it as a terrier shakes a rat. This done, !-"'ip, had turned toward the island —and her' deadly eyes had fallen upon the . torm of the sw|mniing man as ho cleft his way shoreward. , Her rush was liko the rush of a torpedo, bat Gardner was already laying liis frantic hands upon the ledge. The ledge—a "shelf-not a dozen inches in width —was just awash. Ho fclf- that it, -was.no refuge. But at about _ his own height abovo him was a niche ja the rock, whimsically gouged out as if to hold a statue. With desperate agility he drew himself up into the tiny retreat, whipping up his legs be-, hind him an]d shrinking as flat as possible into the niche. At the samo moment ho was deluged with foam and spnu, as with a dull crash the body of his pursuer struck the rock just below his feet. , , , Gardner ■ shuddered, ami struggled i jraspinglv to catch back his brer.th into his laboring lungs. He had swum many races)"'but never one like that. Turning cautiously, and keeping himself still flattened like a limpet to the back of the niche, he stared down, trembling lest the avenger should essay another ■"such mad leap, and with better effect. But the orca did not seem disposed to try it again. The shock of her impact "had been terrific, and must have more or less driven the breath from her bodv. - She was now swimming slowly up and down before the rock, a grim and drendlul gaoler. Gardner looked down into her cold little eyes, _ and shivered at the intelligent and implacable hate that flamed in them. When he found himself _ sufficiently recovered to consider his situation he was forced to acknowledge it a rather desperate one. (teaching outward and upward as far as he could, his hands found no protuberance ot the rock by tho aid of which he might hope to climb out of his niche and so make his way to the top of llic cliff. He had no way of judging how long his vengeance gaoler might remain on duty; but from the magnitude ot the wrong he had dime her, the business,!ik<- method of her patrol and the effective iury that .shehad shown in her attack, he had little reason to hope that she would' soon tire of -her .office. Lu tho.se teeming seas, as lie knew, she could find plenty to eat without forsaking her post,; but, if those seas were teeming with sea-life, he,reflected ruefully that they were at the same time rather, barren of ships. The coasting schooners were apt to give that'part of the coast a. wide berth, owing to its sunken reefs and awkward currents. His island, to be sure, Was little more than half a mile from shore —an easy enough swim for him.under ordimiry'circumstanees. But even with hio gaoler out of the way he had no relish for running tho gauntlet of the giant sharks that haunted the island . I channels. .

Exposed as he was to tlie full glare of the sun —the rock around him was uncomfortably' hot beneath his "hands—he wondered bow long it would be. before heat and thirst-would so overcome him that his legs would crumple tinder his weight-and he would topple forward into the jaws of his waiting foe. On this point, however, lie was presently somewhat reassured, as he noted that the ;iim would very soon pass over the .shoulder of -the cliff and leave him in the shade. As far as tlip_ heat was concerned, he would be fairly secure until the next morning. But then, if tlie weather should continue. fine, how would ho endure the long, intolerable blaze of the forenoon, before the sun should again go over the cliff ? He began to pray for storm, and shrouded skies. But her-e he stopped himself, realising his dilemma. If storm should come', it was-likely, at that season, to come out of the south-east/ and in such event the rising seas would lick him from his perch. He decided hastily that it was best to make his prayer a general one, and hazard no dangerous suggestions to Providence. / '.fumbling instinctively in his pocket he drew forth his soaked and sopping tobacco-pouch and a box of wet matches. The latter included some wax ones, and lie had a dim hope that these, if carefully dried and properly coaxed, might perhaps• be induced to light. He spread them out, with the tobacco, on the hot rock between his feet. ' He had lost his pipe in the catastrophe; but he had letters in his pocket, and with these, when dried, he planned to roll cigarettes. ■.'■■ The. enterprise gave him something to do, helping him to pass the weary afternoon. But in the end he found that none of the matches would, afford him so much as a sputter. Angrily he threw their futile remnants into the sea. Night fell suddenly, as always in. those latitudes, and the moonlight enchanted the long swells to the smoothness of glass. All night the orca swam backward and forward before the rock till the changeless monotony of her movements began to hypnotise her priand- he turned his eyes to the cliff face to escape its influence. He Was iu deadly.fear of dropping to sleep in his weariness and falling out of the niche. His legs were giving way beneath him, and there was not room in the niche for him to sit down, or even to crouch with any comfort. At last, in desperation, he decided to take the risk of letting his legs hang over the edge, where his enemy could reach them if she should dare another of her .wild leaps into the air. The moment he seated himself in this position she swam nearer and'eyed him with unutterable malignancy. But she did not attempt to repeat her flying rush. It was plain to Gardner that she had. no relish for another violent concussion with the rock.

At last the interminable night ivoro itself away. The moon had long disappeared' over the cliff, when the velvet purple of the sky began to thin and chill, the stars to pale and fade. Then the measureless splendor of an unclouded tropic dawn broke over the sea, and the shining plane of the waters seemed to tilt downward to meet the sun. Gardner gathered all his weary strength to face the fiery ordeal that he felt to bo before him.

The better to fortify himself against it he took'off his.light coat, and, by the aid of so.me pieces of cord which he found in his-pocket he lowered the garment and drenched it well in the sea.

The orua darted into see what lie was doing, but ho drew' up the dripping coat:: before slie "could seize it. He,

felt that tins idea, was nothing less than an mspnation; for by keeping his head and body well di (inched he would bj able to end in e almost any heat and might ,]L tlie same time, by absorption, hope to w -ird oft for a time the extreme torments of his thirst.

As the relenting Fates decreed, however, his trial was presently to be ended. Along about nine o'clock in the morning, came throbbing on the still <nr a harsh, staccato chtig-chug-chug-chug, which was to Gaidner's ears the divmest of melodies. In an instant he stripped his light shirt o\er his head and was holding it in eager hands. A moment more and a powerful foitv-foot motor-launch came into view. She was about a hundred and' fifty jards away, and making a lot of racket. But Gardner, yelling wildly and flapping his shirt m the air, succeeded in catching her attention. She turned in. toward the lock, but in the next instant the noise of the motor stopped, and she swerved off again. The pilot had caught sight of Gardner's gaoler. There were three men in the launch. One of them hailed the prisoner. "What's upp" he demanded concise-i

"I shot,tliat brute's calf yesterday," answered Gardner, "and she smashed up my boat and chased me up here on to this rook." - There was for a moment on the'launch. Then the captain answered": "Any fellow, that's looking for trouble can generally find it by starting in to fool with a /killer,' " said he. "" "I've thought since that I made' a mistake," > said r Gardner drily. "But that was yesterday -morning, and I'm pretty nearlv all in. Come and take me o<L" __ ' .. ,"You'll have to hang on' a bit longer," shouted the captain, "while ,w.p run bark to port and' get a. whale gun. Wb've got a heavy hbte, •but it's not safe to tncklo J her w lln 'that./orMf/»e didn't fix her first-shot she'd mats" matchwood' of this'launch in about'''tcH"sscoad«'.'', inside,qntfnorjir ,~ so : ~,don't fret/»"

It seemed to' the imprisoned man terribly long hour, unci he had ( )(( .'' sioti to bless tjie cool, dripping i ilc |.'',. before he again heard the chug-dm!', chug-chug of the motor clatuorinir \f[ hind his .prison. This, time, us soon v it came in sight, it bore dowu upon tii* orca. lii its ,bow, as it slid, gracefully dipping over the smooth swell, (.'anlui.V remarked a strange gun, a sort of slio r i bigTbbre rifle oh 'a swivel. 'Die 0,,,.! 'now! ;.tbok.'note 'oi the fact that th', i'lauhch was heading..straight for i ll>r l rShe;, paused in her 'tireless pntr011,,,,; and eyed it defiantly, hesitating as Q -whether she would* attack it or not ; The"launch reversed propellers till j, progress came to a.stop, while her cap tain, sighted .the. weapon, in ho,. There, was "a mighty, report. The n Ums ' ter .flung, herself, halfway out of (•'," water and fell back with a gigantic splash. -For a moment she rush,,,madly around in a half-circlo, t|, ot J crashed headlong "into the Hill', MVu one violent shudder and slowly sank t<i a fringing reef about two fathoms deep "Have you plenty of water ri-dii ij.j to' your ledge?" demanded the ~„,}. 4 tain as the launch drew slowly in.

"Plenty I" said Gardner, '.swnijiii,,, down stiffly, from his niche and ready to crawl aboard.