CHAPTER XII
Marsovinoand 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.
“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 twovalleys. 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.
“I am being killed, stifled,” whispered Pinocchio. Yes, hewhispered. 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 herringswas 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?”
“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 afish, 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.
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! Icould 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.”
“But many of them may have nopearls 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.”
“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 heput 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, holdinga 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.
“Thatwasa 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.”