Matkah taught him to follow the cod and the halibut along the under-sea banks and wrench the rockling out of his hole among the weeds ; how to skirt the wrecks lying a hundred fathoms below water and dart like a rifle bullet in at one porthole and out at another as the fishes ran ; how to dance on the top of the waves when the lightning was racing all over the sky , and wave his flipper politely to the stumpy-tailed Albatross and the Man-of-war Hawk as they went down the wind ; how to jump three or four feet clear of the water like a dolphin , flippers close to the side and tail curved ; to leave the flying fish alone because they are all bony ; to take the shoulder-piece out of a cod at full speed ten fathoms deep , and never to stop and look at a boat or a ship , but particularly a row-boat .