est speed and when it reached the battlefield its occupants saw a
little band of porpoises in the midst of a great school of silver
mullet. Each blow of a porpoise tail sent several mullet flying in
the air, each blow that was struck was followed by a quick turn or
leap of the agile animal for the victim which it caught before it
fell. Ned and Dick were in the skiff which had been towed by the
power boat, hoping to harpoon a sawfish or a shark. They had not
before thought of the swift and wary porpoise. They called to the
captain to cast them loose, and soon Ned was poling the skiff toward
the busy porpoises while Dick stood in the bow of the skiff with his
harpoon handy. Quick as a flash the porpoises separated and
scattered in every direction and the boys followed several in vain.
Then Molly took a hand in the game and sent the power boat at one
after another of them until the captain called to her:

"If you'll stick to one you'll run him down."

Then Molly kept steadily after a single porpoise, until the animal
came to understand that it was the chosen victim, and quickly put
half a mile between it and its pursuer. In a few minutes the half
mile between them had vanished and the creature made another frantic
dash. After that it swam back and forth as if confused, and traveled
in narrowing circles, wasting its strength, while the wheel of the
pursuing boat rolled back and forth without ceasing as it followed
the course of the animal or took short cuts to head it off. The boys
came near with the skiff, but the worried quarry paid so little heed
to them that soon Dick sunk his harpoon in the tail of the porpoise.
All the life and strength of the creature seemed to come back and it
threw a column of water in the air which nearly swamped the skiff,
while Dick's hands were torn and blistered by the outgoing harpoon
line, before way could be had on the skiff. The frantic creature
tore back and forth, sometimes striking the skiff a powerful blow
with its tremendous tail as it passed, sometimes towing it at high
speed until Dick, who was not yet strong, was more tired than the
porpoise. He changed places with Ned and the two were nearly worn
out when the porpoise surrendered.

They took the harpoon from the animal's tail and tried to drag the
creature over the gunwale of the skiff, but found it too heavy for
them. At length they lifted and dragged the porpoise up on the
gunwale of the skiff which they pressed down until th