[Illustration]
MARSOVINO and Pinocchio traveled swiftly. They passed a strait,
crossed a canal, left beautiful lands behind them, and at last came
out fearlessly into the great ocean. They never stopped.
When the moon shone they traveled on the surface of the water. If
the sky was dark and gloomy, the dolphin plunged deep into the
sea. There the two friends had plenty of light. Great medusæ and
sun fishes made the water light and bright. Very often, too, the
wonderful phosphorescence of the sea aided them in seeing their way.
Pinocchio felt satisfied when Marsovino explained the cause of this
phosphorescence to him. At first, though, he could hardly believe his
ears.
[Illustration: “WHEN THE MOON SHONE THEY TRAVELED ON THE SURFACE OF
THE WATER.”]
The journey was very peaceful, and nothing came to trouble the two
little heroes.
“What is that dark blue streak there, Marsovino?” asked Pinocchio,
one day. He was pointing out a wide band of dark blue water, which
stood out distinctly from the lighter green of the ocean.
“That? Oh, that is the Gulf Stream,” answered Marsovino.
“The Gulf Stream? What are you talking about? A stream running in the
ocean! Water running in water!”
“Yes, of course it is all water. But there is a difference between
ocean water and Gulf Stream water. The first, in general, is quiet,
the second is moving. That stream is just like a river flowing
between two valleys. The waters of the two never mix. If you try,
you will find that the ocean is much the colder of the two.”
“But what is the use of it?”
“Why, it is of great use. This stream carries warmth to the cold
regions of the north. It cools the hot countries of the tropics.
Without this saving current, life would not be pleasant in many
countries.”
“Hurrah for the river in the middle of the sea, then!” shouted
Pinocchio. He had understood little, so he thought it better not to
speak further on the subject.
Towards noon of the same day the sea began to be filled with
herrings. They were on all sides. Our two travelers were surrounded.
Pinocchio enjoyed being with the silvery animals.
Soon, however, there were so many that Marsovino found it hard to
move. Still, the kind little fellow, seeing that Pinocchio was
enjoying himself, did not try to get away. After a while, however,
the herrings became so numerous that the ocean looked like a sea of
silver, not of water. Pinocchio and the dolphin were being pushed and
shoved around without mercy.
[Illustration]
“I am being killed, stifled,” whispered Pinocchio. Yes, he
_whispered_. If he had opened his mouth a herring could easily have
slipped into it. This might not have been very pleasant.
Marsovino finally saw that the herring had become as thick as a stone
wall. So with a few strong strokes of his tail, he made his way to
the surface of the water.
“Ah! now I can breathe!” exclaimed Pinocchio. “In that fishy world I
thought I should die.”
As night had come, and as it was very dark, our friends began to
think of sleep. Anyway, even if they had tried to move, they could
hardly have passed through that multitude.
Just as the sun rose, Pinocchio opened his eyes. He had had a very
good sleep on the back of his swimming horse. Looking around, he
could not help crying out in surprise.
“Marsovino! Wake up!” he called. “Just look! Yesterday we were
swimming in a sea of silver. To-day we are floating in milk.”
It was really the truth. No sign of herrings was left. But as far as
eye could reach one could see only a thick heavy liquid as white as
milk.
“Oh, how splendid!” cried Pinocchio. “Now I can have as much milk as
I want. It looks good.”
Marsovino had awakened, but he never said a word. He wanted to see
what Pinocchio would do. The marionette, thinking himself right, bent
over and took a long drink of milk, as he thought. But he had no
sooner had a taste than he made a wry face.
“Why, it is salty.”
“Of course it is. Is this the first time you have heard of the sea
being salt?”
“But this is not water. Look how white it is. It looks like milk.”
“Do you know why it is so? The water looks white because of the eggs
left in it by the herrings of yesterday.”
“Eggs? But there must be thousands of them?”
“Yes, and millions.”
“But the sea will soon be full of herrings, then.”
“No fear of that, Pinocchio. Think of the many large fish that are in
the sea. They live on these eggs and on small fishes. Why, they can
and they do swallow hundreds of eggs at a time. The sea is big enough
to hold all its fish and more. You don’t think we are crowded, do
you?”
“Last night we certainly were.”
“One night is not every night. You see, herrings travel in great
numbers, and we happened to meet a school of them.”
“Oh, they go to school, do they? Well, I never before thought a fish
had to go to school, too!” mumbled Pinocchio to himself.
After traveling a long time through the milky sea, the two travelers
at last came out of it.
Soon after a long, sharp, flat blade rose suddenly out of the water.
It looked like a sword, and Pinocchio, of course, thought it was one.
“What have we here?” he asked. “A soldier battling in the sea? And is
that thing his sword?”
[Illustration]
“You can hardly be blamed for thinking it a sword. It looks very much
like one,” said Marsovino. “It is the long upper jaw of a fish, and
from this it receives its name, swordfish. With this weapon, as it is
very strong, the fish can defend himself against much larger animals.
I hope he won’t come near us.”
Luckily for the two friends, he did not. The sword disappeared into
the sea, and the travelers continued their journey.
“I must dive now, to see where we are,” said Marsovino; and soon
Pinocchio found himself at the bottom of the sea. Curious as ever,
the marionette looked around, peering here and peering there.
[Illustration]
Seeing some cuplike objects hanging on the rocks, he put out his
hands for them. They looked very soft and were full of holes. But as
soon as Pinocchio touched them, the holes disappeared, and the cups
clung tightly to the rocks.
“Oh, excuse me,” begged Pinocchio, “I thought you were sponges.”
“And what are they, if not that?” laughingly asked Marsovino.
“But they move just as if they were alive!”
“And is not the sponge an animal?”
“Really? Do you mean it?”
“Why, yes. The sponge is not only one animal, but a number of animals
living together. And what do you think hides in that cuplike sponge
you see there, to live a quiet happy life in it?”
“What?”
“The pearl oyster.”
“Honestly? Oh! Do you think I could get some? I know how precious
pearls are. Why, I could make myself rich! I could buy houses and
horses and automobiles and—Oh! Oh!” and Pinocchio started to dance a
jig on the sandy floor.
Marsovino was laughing.
“You may try. You may have luck.”
Pinocchio did not have to be told twice. He searched and searched
every sponge he could lay his hands on. As a result, he found a great
many shells.
“And what now?” he asked.
“Now you must open them, to see if any pearls are inside.”
“What is the use of opening them? You said these were all pearl
oysters. I’ll carry them and open them later.”
[Illustration]
“But many of them may have no pearls at all. You see,” continued
Marsovino, opening a shell, “this one has none. But do you see
this coating of many colors on the inside of the shell? That is a
substance which comes from the body of the mollusk. It is called
mother of pearl. When the oyster opens its shell, a grain of sand may
get into it. The oyster does not like this, as the stone hurts her,
but she can’t throw it out. So she covers it up with this substance
from her body. When the little stone is all covered up, we have a
lovely pearl.”
[Illustration]
“Who would ever have thought such a thing possible!” thought
Pinocchio, getting to work. He soon had a large number of oysters;
but when he opened them he found only a few small balls.
“Come here, Pinocchio. You may have better luck in this corner,” and
Marsovino led the way to a nook in the rocks. “Look in there.”
Again Pinocchio searched, and soon a great many shells lay at his
feet ready to be opened. Without mercy, he went at them, tearing
and pulling the poor little creatures from their homes. His search
finished, he threw them aside. The sand was soon covered with the
dead and the dying.
“Poor little beings!” observed Marsovino. “After they have given you
their pearls, is that the way to treat them? Could you not be more
careful?”
Pinocchio had a kind soul. He was only thoughtless. So he went to
work and tried to undo the wrong he had done. Those oysters which
were only slightly hurt he put back into their shells; while he ate
the others, and so ended their sufferings.
This work finished, he went on with his search for pearls. In a short
time he had a small pile of beautiful pearls. Some were large, some
small, some globular, and others shaped like drops of water.
In color, too, they were different. Almost all were white, some
faintly pink, a few grayish, and one was all black.
“Well, Pinocchio, you have enough. With them you will be as rich as
the king of China. Come now. We must go on with our journey.”
“But these pearls, where shall I put them? I wish I had a bag or a
box.”
“It will not be so hard to find that. Let’s look around.”
The dolphin swam around. He did not stay away long. Soon he came
back, holding a small object out to Pinocchio. It was a little
cubical body, and seemed like a strange-looking box.
“Here is the box, my friend,” he called.
“Well, what is this?” asked Pinocchio, looking at the object. It was
hard and dark, and reminded him of the shell which had saved his life.
“That _was_ a fish.”
“A fish? That box?”
“Exactly. This is only its shell, but once a fish lived in it. It is
called the sea urchin. That box you have there helps him to defend
himself. Do you notice how hard it is?”
“Well, the sea is certainly a wonderful place. Once upon a time
I hated it. Now I should like to be a fish, so as to live in it
always.”
[Illustration]