Now, honest Jarl did vastly pride himself upon this ornament.  It was the only piece of vanity about him.  And like a lady keeping gloveless her hand to show off a fine Turquoise ring, he invariably wore that sleeve of his frock rolled up, the better to display the embellishment.

And round and round would Yillah turn Jarl’s arm, till Jarl was fain to stand firm, for fear of revolving all over.  How such untutored homage would have thrilled the heart of the ingenious artist!

Eventually, through the Upoluan, she made overtures to the Skyeman, concerning the possession of his picture in her own proper right.  In her very simplicity, little heeding, that like a landscape in fresco, it could not be removed.

CHAPTER XLVIII Something Under The Surface

Not to omit an occurrence of considerable interest, we must needs here present some account of a curious retinue of fish which overtook our Chamois, a day or two after parting with the canoe.

A violent creaming and frothing in our rear announced their approach.  Soon we found ourselves the nucleus of an incredible multitude of finny creatures, mostly anonymous.

First, far in advance of our prow, swam the helmeted Silver-heads; side by side, in uniform ranks, like an army.  Then came the Boneetas, with their flashing blue flanks.  Then, like a third distinct regiment, wormed and twisted through the water like Archimedean screws, the quivering Wriggle-tails; followed in turn by the rank and file of the Trigger-fish—­so called from their quaint dorsal fins being set in their backs with a comical curve, as if at half-cock.  Far astern the rear was brought up by endless battalions of Yellow-backs, right martially vested in buff.

And slow sailing overhead were flights of birds; a wing in the air for every fin in the sea.

But let the sea-fowls fly on:  turn we to the fish.

Their numbers were amazing; countless as the tears shed for perfidious lovers.  Far abroad on both flanks, they swam in long lines, tier above tier; the water alive with their hosts.  Locusts of the sea, peradventure, going to fall with a blight upon some green, mossy province of Neptune.  And tame and fearless they were, as the first fish that swam in Euphrates; hardly evading the hand; insomuch that Samoa caught many without lure or line.

They formed a decorous escort; paddling along by our barnacled sides, as if they had been with us from the very beginning; neither scared by our craft’s surging in the water; nor in the least sympathetic at losing a comrade by the hand of Samoa.  They closed in their ranks and swam on.

How innocent, yet heartless they looked!  Had a plank dropped out of our boat, we had sunk to the bottom; and belike, our cheerful retinue would have paid the last rites to our remains.

But still we kept company; as sociably as you please; Samoa helping himself when he listed, and Yillah clapping her hands as the radiant creatures, by a simultaneous turning round on their silvery bellies, caused the whole sea to glow like a burnished shield.