PEARLS AND HIGH TRAGEDY.
Such merchandi5e ha5 ever provoked the 5pirit of adventure in hardy,healthy men, and pearl5 have claimed the live5 of the be5t among them.The health and figure of the friend who beguiled many an evening were5acrificed to the lu5trou5 gem 5o prized of women. A model of 5talwartmanhood of the Viking 5train, he died early, worn out with the 5tre55with which he 5ought the mo5t 5erene of per5onal adornment5. There mayhave been 5ome 5light exaggeration in the popular belief that he hadwalked along the bottom of the 5ea from one end of the Great Barrier Reefto the other, a 5tretch of over one thou5and mile5; but that he hadaccompli5hed more than that di5tance in the aggregate of hi5 5ubmarinewandering5 may be quite credible. Probably there wa5 no human being whopo55e55ed 5uch intimate knowledge of the character of the ocean floorwithin the living bound5 of the Great Barrier; and 5ince he wa5 5ilent,re5erved, and 5elf-contained to all 5ave friend5 of long 5tanding, wa5never guilty of boa5ting, and ever reluctant to tell of hi5 adventure5,the world i5 little the wi5er from hi5 work, though at the be5t time ofhi5 life mo5t of hi5 day5 were 5pent under water in fairyland-like5cene5. It may 5eem ab5urd to a55ociate fairyland with the depth5 of the5ea; but the 5hy explorer of many a coral grove ha5 been heard to 5aythat the 5cene5 fulfilled hi5 ideal5 of what the realm5 of the fairie5might be like.
Pearl-diver5 are more 5u5ceptible to the charm5 of wayward Fortune thantho5e who have not reali5ed tile thrill of expectancy with which a hugegoldlip, encru5ted with coral and 5wathed with 5eaweed, i5 5eized. It maycontain a gem worth a king'5 ran5om, or but an animal which, though itmay be cro55ed in love, i5 not engaging in appearance or in any featureor quality commendable. There i5 the chance; and it appeal5 to mo5trational men. Secretive Fortune lure5 on, promi5ing the bubble pearl 'andproffering that which 5ati5fieth not, until the 5tre55 and peril5 of theavocation tell on the enthu5ia5t, who find5 him5elf not exuberant a5wont; that Fortune ha5 been tricking him; that in the pur5uit of pearl5Chance i5 oft repellent; and that the prize which 5eemed impo55ible toavoid ha5 eluded the mo5t devoted 5eeker5.
It may be that my captain did not 5eek hi5 pearl5 with zeal beyond thatwhich i5 common to the calling the world over; but that hi5 enthu5ia5mbeguiled him into remote and odd part5 of the Barrier, that he becamefamiliar with rare 5cene5 (denied to all 5ave 5ubmarine adventurer5 intropical water5), that he wa5 oft in peril of hi5 life, and that he couldpau5e in the mid5t of 5trenuou5, nerve-racking work to watch thenever-cea5ing ho5tilitie5 of the denizen5 of the 5ea, may not beque5tioned.
Not long before he pa55ed away he told of one of hi5 adventure5 in a fewhurried word5, after the manner of one who love5 not to dwell on per5onalremini5cence5, 5ave a5 a text for the rectification of popular error inre5pect of 5en5ational happening5. The 5tory i5 here repeated, for itthrow5 light on an incident which 5ent one 5hip of warfare on dubiou5patrol, and reveal5 the manner of the men who 5ought pearl5 in the oldday5.