the boy was by no means out of material, and
nothing short of an absolute command could keep him silent long enough
to eat his lunch. In the afternoon he unpacked his trunk, revealing
little quaint articles he had picked up on his travels as gifts for the
various members of the family. But the excitement of home-coming had
tired the boy, and quite early in the evening he found himself getting
sleepy, so that not long after his little sister had been snugly tucked
up, Colin announced his readiness to go to bed, on the ground that he
was to get up early the next day, as he was going tuna-fishing.

The morning broke hot and hazy. The gray-green of the foliage on the
mountains had a purple tinge in the early morning light, and the sea
took on a mother-of-pearl gleam behind its amethyst, as it reflected the
changing hues of the roseate sunrise. Over San Antonio and San Jacinto
the sun rose gloriously, and in the freshness of the morning air the
giant flying-fish of the Pacific leaped and gleamed across the
mirror-smooth sea.

Colin drew a long breath and expanded his lungs to the full, as though
he could breathe in the glow of color and the wonder of it all.

"It always feels good to be alive at this hour of the morning!" he said.

His father smiled appreciatively.

"You're generally asleep," he said. "But it's a good thing we did get up
in time to-day, for unless my eyes are failing me, I think I can see in
the distance the tunas coming in. Say, Vincente, doesn't that look like
them over there?"

"Yes, sair, I t'ink dat's a school. I overheard a man on ze pier telling
of a beeg one he caught yesterday," said the boatman.

"That was Mr. Retaner," was the answer, "one of the most famous anglers
and authorities on fishing in America. That's why I came out this
morning; he said he thought the school would arrive soon, and what
Retaner doesn't know about fishing isn't worth knowing. He practically
created deep-sea angling in America, so that as an industry it is worth
millions of dollars annually to the country, and as a sport it has been
put in the first rank."

Across the sea of glass with its rose reflections of the sunrise and the
deep underglow of richly-colored life beneath the transparent water,
there came a quick shiver of ripples. Then half a mile away, but
advancing rapidly, appeared a strange turmoil, and in the sunlight, a
stretch of sea, acres in extent, was churned into white foam, looking
like some fairy