Free Far Tortuga by Peter Matthiessen Page A

glints in the sinking sun. The ancient head blinks once, then withdraws beneath the surface.
    Wild high voices.
    Well, Byrum right! Dey a few left anyway dat ain’t gone south!
    By God, dat a nice turtle dere!
Big
turtle!
    Call dat big? Dat one dey got on de
Cayman Venture
, dat one went better den six hundred pound!
    How many you seen in
your
life big as dat? In de back time, yes—dey got dem up to eight, nine hundred pound, were not uncommon. But dese days, dey been harassed so much, a turtle live long enough to reach four hundred pound,
dat
is uncommon!
    Where dat black Honduran? Take a good look, boy—you seein
turtle
! You on de only green turtle grounds in de whole
world
!
    Hear dat idiot? Why, dey turtle at Aves, over dere toward Guadeloupe, and dey got nice turtle over dere in Yucatán, Isla Mujeres, long dat way. And I got de theory dat in former times, green turtle nested out on Far Tortuga. Eitherwise, why did de back-time coptins give dat cay dat name? Den Far Tortuga wore away in storm, but de turtle kept right on goin dere, circlin round dem empty reefs for a hundred years. And when dat cay formed up again, dey commenced to nestin dere, just like dey done in de centuries before.

    A big broad-headed shark. Byrum chunks a piece of wood at it, and it moves off with a dull thrash; in a moment it has turned again, flanking the boat.
    Dat son-bitch waitin for me, mon. Dat tiger got my number. (
sighs
) One voyage on de
A.M. Adams
now, I dreamin everynight about my intended dere, Miss Gwen, and dey was turtle in de net every last mornin.
    His intended! Byrum told so many girls dat dey was his intended dat he gettin now so he believin it hisself. Dat last time home he got drunk dere and got all slicked up and run down to de church. All right, by Jesus, where in de hell is my intended! But dat day Miss Gwen was over to Northside visitin her people, so de nuptials never took place.
    Oh, dat boy a bad drinker! Dat how come he got fired off de
Adams
. Wouldn’t take no orders—he was
givin
dem!
    Dass it. Byrum never gone get married! He gone end up just like Vemon.
    Oh yes, dreams is sign! If I lay down tonight and dream certain dreams, I can get up in de mornin and say, Well, Wodie, you know something, we got a cotch. And if I lay down and dream
other
dreams, I can say, All right, boys, ain’t no use in goin out dere
dis
mornin. Green things—green trees, green fruit, anything green—or silver money, dat is disappointment. Dreamin bout silver money or colored folks, a black person, anything black, dat is bad luck, too.
    White person, dass okay, huh?
    Well, Speedy, it’s been marked dat if you dream about a white person, or white sand, white clear water, or white fruit, you can almost count on good luck de next day! Dass right! And
sign
! Dere are turtlers today dat will sit on de vessel deck and tell you when de turtle strike his net. He feel de sign. True. You go out dere at four o’clock dis evenin, and you set ten, fifteen nets. And you don’t feel no sign in your hand or your feet of puttin your hand on a turtle de next day, or you don’t have any nice dream: well, you can go on out dere and you find what dey calls a water set, cause dey nothin in dose nets but water.
    Raib turns abruptly from the rail.
    Wodie, dat is foolishness! Dat is duppy talk! (
raises voice
) De only unlucky thing about de turtle fishery is de set of de wind, and de other thing is, if you are not setting your nets where de turtle are—
dat
is bad luck. (
laughs
) Dat is de
worst
kind of luck, cause you won’t get no turtle.
    Copm Raib? Copm Raib? Ain’t you de one believes in turtle eyesight—?
    Turtle eyesight is something dat I have observed myself! Many times I seen’m do dat, from de catboat, when we was out doggin’m! Times when de water so riled up dat a mon can’t see nothin, not even if he way up on de masthead. Look like a dish of milk. And de onliest way dat you find de set is by havin good bearins, dead reckonin,