had caught my eighth fish, when an outcry came from a canoe near us,
as a young man who was seated on the for'ard thwart rose to his feet and
began hauling in his line, which was standing straight up and down, taut
as an iron bar, the canoe meanwhile spinning round and round although
the steersman used all his efforts to keep her steady.

"What is it, Tuluia?" called out fifty voices at once. "A shark?"

"My mother's bones!" said old Viliamu with a laugh of contempt. "'Tis an
eel, and Tuluia, who was asleep, has let it twist its tail around a
piece of coral. May he lose it for his stupidity."

We all ceased fishing to watch, and half a dozen men began jeering at
the lad, who was too excited to heed them. Old Viliamu, who was in the
next canoe, looked down, and then cried out that he could see the eel,
which had taken several turns of its body around a thick branch of
growing coral.

"His head is up," he called out to the youth, "but you cannot move him,
he has too many turns in and out among the coral." Then paddling up
alongside he again looked at the struggling creature, then felt the line
which was vibrating with the tension. Stepping out of his own craft into
that of the young man, the line was placed in his hands without an inch
of it being payed out, for once one of these giant eels can get his head
down he will so quickly twine the line in and out among the rugged coral
that it is soon chafed through, if of ordinary thickness. But the
ancient knew his work well, as we were soon to see. Taking a turn of the
line well up on his forearm and grasping it with his right a yard lower
down, he waited for a second or two, then suddenly bent his body till
his face nearly touched the water, then he sprang erect and with
lightning-like rapidity began to haul in hand _under_ hand [12] amid
loud cries of approval as the wriggling body of the eel was seen
ascending clear of the coral. The moment it reached the surface, a
second native, with unerring aim sent a spear through it and then a blow
or two upon the head with a club carried for the purpose took all
further fight out of the creature, which was then lifted out of the
water and dropped into the canoe. Here the end of its tail was quickly
split open and we saw no more of him for the time being.

To capture an eel so soon was looked upon as a lucky omen, to have lost
it would have been a presage of ill-fortune for the rest of the day, and
the incident put every one in h