{"id":"01KG8AM12NY1CW4A1HDXTKRP5Q","cid":"bafkreigygunb736g2ha5cut7fic7nhjsnaa7cv74ekc4ygtv7mjuhy4ks4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5326,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.535Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":5264,"text":"CHAPTER XLVIII.\r\nSomething Under The Surface\r\n\r\n\r\nNot to omit an occurrence of considerable interest, we must needs here\r\npresent some account of a curious retinue of fish which overtook our\r\nChamois, a day or two after parting with the canoe.\r\n\r\nA violent creaming and frothing in our rear announced their approach.\r\nSoon we found ourselves the nucleus of an incredible multitude of finny\r\ncreatures, mostly anonymous.\r\n\r\nFirst, far in advance of our prow, swam the helmeted Silver-heads; side\r\nby side, in uniform ranks, like an army. Then came the Boneetas, with\r\ntheir flashing blue flanks. Then, like a third distinct regiment,\r\nwormed and twisted through the water like Archimedean screws, the\r\nquivering Wriggle-tails; followed in turn by the rank and file of the\r\nTrigger-fish—so called from their quaint dorsal fins being set in their\r\nbacks with a comical curve, as if at half-cock. Far astern the rear was\r\nbrought up by endless battalions of Yellow- backs, right martially\r\nvested in buff.\r\n\r\nAnd slow sailing overhead were flights of birds; a wing in the air for\r\nevery fin in the sea.\r\n\r\nBut let the sea-fowls fly on: turn we to the fish.\r\n\r\nTheir numbers were amazing; countless as the tears shed for perfidious\r\nlovers. Far abroad on both flanks, they swam in long lines, tier above\r\ntier; the water alive with their hosts. Locusts of the sea,\r\nperadventure, going to fall with a blight upon some green, mossy\r\nprovince of Neptune. And tame and fearless they were, as the first fish\r\nthat swam in Euphrates; hardly evading the hand; insomuch that Samoa\r\ncaught many without lure or line.\r\n\r\nThey formed a decorous escort; paddling along by our barnacled sides,\r\nas if they had been with us from the very beginning; neither scared by\r\nour craft’s surging in the water; nor in the least sympathetic at\r\nlosing a comrade by the hand of Samoa. They closed in their ranks and\r\nswam on.\r\n\r\nHow innocent, yet heartless they looked! Had a plank dropped out of our\r\nboat, we had sunk to the bottom; and belike, our cheerful retinue would\r\nhave paid the last rites to our remains.\r\n\r\nBut still we kept company; as sociably as you please; Samoa helping\r\nhimself when he listed, and Yillah clapping her hands as the radiant\r\ncreatures, by a simultaneous turning round on their silvery bellies,\r\ncaused the whole sea to glow like a burnished shield.\r\n\r\nBut what has befallen this poor little Boneeta astern, that he swims so\r\ntoilingly on, with gills showing purple? What has he there, towing\r\nbehind? It is tangled sea-kelp clinging to its fins. But the clogged\r\nthing strains to keep up with its fellows. Yet little they heed. Away\r\nthey go; every fish for itself, and any fish for Samoa.\r\n\r\nAt last the poor Boneeta is seen no more. The myriad fins swim on; a\r\nlonely waste, where the lost one drops behind.\r\n\r\nStrange fish! All the live-long day, they were there by our side; and\r\nat night still tarried and shone; more crystal and scaly in the pale\r\nmoonbeams, than in the golden glare of the sun.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS9YQXJMM5K2N3X1Y8AV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM12NZ538QZGX0SEH549C","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:23.637Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.873Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}