More Island Life
Next morning the whole of Swallow ’s ship’s company bathed before breakfast. The landing-place, with its little beach, on the eastern side of the island was a good place for bathing. There was sand there, and though there were stones, they were not so sharp as elsewhere. Also the water did not go deep there very suddenly, and after Susan had walked out a good long way, she said that Roger might bathe too.
Roger, who had been waiting on the beach, pranced splashing into the water.
“You’re to swim as well as splash,” said Mate Susan.
“Aye, aye, sir,” said Roger. He crouched in the water with only his head out. That, at least, felt very like swimming.
John and Susan swam races, first one way, and then the other.
Titty, privately, was being a cormorant.
This was not the sort of thing that she could very well talk of to John or Susan until she was sure that it was a success. So she said nothing about it. But she had seen that there were lots of minnows in the shallow water close to the shore. Perhaps there would be bigger ones further out, like the fish the cormorants had been catching yesterday. Titty had watched them carefully. The way they did it was to swim quietly and then suddenly to dive under water, humping their backs, keeping their wings close together, and going under head first. She tried, but she found that unless she used her arms, she did not get under water at all. Even when