Alice knew nothing of what was going forward, though Walter suspected that things were not quite right.
The great delight of Alice, as the ship entered the tropics, was to watch the strange fish which swam about the ship as she glided calmly on; to observe the ocean bathed in the silvery light of the moon, or the sun as it sank into its ocean bed, suffusing a rich glow over the sky and waters.
She and Walter were one day standing on deck together, when, looking up, they saw a small black dot in the blue sky.
“What can that be?” asked Alice. “It seems as if some one had thrown a ball up there. Surely it cannot be a balloon such as I have read of, though I never saw one.”
“That is not a balloon, but a living creature,” observed Jacob, who had overheard her. “It is a frigate-bird watching for its prey; and before long we shall see it pounce down to the surface of the ocean if it observes anything to pick up, though it is a good many hundred feet above our heads just now.”
“See! see! what are those curious creatures which have just come out of the water? Why, they have wings! Can they be birds?” she exclaimed.
“No; those are flying-fish,” said Walter, who knew better than his sister.
“And the frigate-bird has espied them too,” exclaimed the mate. “Here he comes.”
As he spoke, a large bird came swooping down like a flash of lightning from the heavens; and before the flying-fish, with their wings dried by the air, had again fallen into the water, it had caught one of them in its mouth. Swallowing the fish, the bird rapidly ascended, to be ready for another pounce on its prey. The flying-fish had evidently other enemies below the surface, for soon afterwards they were seen to rise at a short distance ahead; and once more the bird, descending with the same rapid flight as before, seized another, which it bore off.
“Poor fish! how cruel of the bird to eat them up,” cried Alice.