rst tried the centre of the lagoon,
where before long I got a bite, and hauled up a fish with a large mouth
and scales of rich and varied colours.

"I should be sorry to eat that fellow," observed Dick; "for, in spite of
his gay coat, I suspect he is poisonous; but we will keep him in case
the bait runs short."

Dick soon afterwards caught three others of the same description. "We
must try fresh ground," he observed; so hauling up our anchor, we pulled
away towards the broad entrance of the lagoon, and again brought up. We
soon caught several more fish of good size and sombre colours, which, as
far as we could judge, were likely to prove wholesome. They tried our
hooks, however; and I was hauling up another big fellow, when he broke
away just as Dick was getting the landing-net under him. Another hook
disappeared before we could even see the fish which carried it off!

"I must try our shark-hook," observed Dick, putting on a large bait, and
fastening it to the end of a thick rope. "Nothing frightens the fish in
these seas; and if we were to lower down a hempen cable with a baited
hook, they would bite as freely as they would if we were to use a
hair-line."

The hook had not been overboard a minute when he shouted out, "I've got
hold of a big one now, anyhow!" and began hauling away.

"He must be a shark, by the way he is pulling," I observed.

"No, he isn't," he answered; "though he is bigger than any fish I ever
caught with a hook and line before. Just you lean over to the other
side of the boat, Mr Rayner, or maybe he'll capsize us. I'll tackle
him."

I did as Dick told me; while he hauled and hauled away, and soon brought
to the surface a fish shaped something like a perch, but apparently of
sixty or seventy pounds weight. It was indeed, I saw, a species of
sea-perch, from the large spines on its back.

In spite of the monster's struggles, Dick held it fast, and at length
hauled it into the boat. "This fellow is a prize," he exclaimed, and I
agreed with him. A blow on the head made it remain tolerably quiet; and
on further examination I was convinced that I was right in supposing it
to be the fish above-named.

Having now more food than we could consume, we pulled back to the shore;
to find that our companions had not yet returned. Having hauled up our
boat, we had ample employment in cleaning our fish for cooking. The big
fellow could only be dressed by being cut up into slices; but as we
wish