ions to work also. Mrs Clagget,
if she did nothing else, always contrived to keep her tongue going.
Emily and May were usually well employed. Their attention, however, was
frequently called to the various objects which appeared around them.
They enjoyed watching the flights of flying-fish which darted with the
speed of arrows out of the water, hovered like birds in the air for a
few seconds, scarcely touching the foam-crested seas, and then sunk
quickly again beneath the surface. "How beautiful and blue are the
reflections on their glittering wings, how transparent their tiny
bodies, how light their movements!" observed Emily; "they look like
ocean elves, as they float through the air. What a happy life they must
lead--now in the pure ocean, now getting an uninterrupted sight of the
glorious sun and the clear sky above them."

"They would have a very different tale to tell, Miss Dicey, if they
could speak to you," observed Mr Paget. "Could your eyes pierce
through the surface, you would see some savage bonitos or dolphins
pursuing the hapless fish who visit the air, not for amusement, but in
the hopes of escaping from their persecutors."

Just then a large covey was seen to rise abeam close to the ship. They
flew high into the air, and in an instant the deck was covered with
their floundering bodies; their wings, dried by the heat of the sun, no
longer spread out, they looked like ordinary fish.

"Catch them, catch them," cried Mrs Clagget; "they will make a
delightful dish for dinner."

"Poor creatures--how unromantic you are," said Emily.

"I am practical, my dear. I pride myself on being practical," answered
Mrs Clagget. "I prefer eating them myself to allowing the dolphins to
have them for their supper." Jumbo, the cook's mate, seemed to be of
Mrs Clagget's opinion, for in an instant he was among the poor fish,
tumbling them into his bucket as fast as he could pick them up.

"That's a wise lad," observed the loquacious lady. "If any of you
happened to be in a boat far away from land without provisions, you
would be very glad to have a dish of those fish fly on board."

"But we happen to have plenty of provisions, and are not in want of the
poor fish," said Charles. "However, if they were thrown overboard
again, I suspect that they would have very little reason to thank us, as
the bonitos would speedily swallow them up."

"Get them while you can, Mr Charles," said Mrs Clagget, nodding her
head. "