of a rope over her head.

"Hold on, Peter!" he cried; and he and I attempted to haul the turtle
back, all the time shouting for help, for she was getting closer and
closer to the water. At last in she got, dragging us after her. We
could not stop her before, and there was very little chance of our doing
so now.

"Let her go, Jim," I cried out.

"We shall lose the rope," he answered, still holding on.

We were already up to our middles in the water.

"It's of no use. Let go! Let go!" I cried out, "or we shall be
dragged away to sea!"

Supposing that he would do as I told him, I let go at the same moment,
when what was my dismay to see Jim dragged away out of his depth.

I swam off to him, still shouting loudly. Presently Soper and Sam Coal
came up, and seeing what was happening, dashed into the water. Our
united strength, however, could not stop the turtle, and Sam, who had a
sharp knife in his pocket, drawing it, cut the rope, and we got Jim back
to shore.

The mate rated Jim for losing the rope, though Brown and the rest
declared that he had behaved very pluckily, and that if help had come in
time we should have saved the turtle. As it was we had turned more than
we could carry off.

Having been ordered not to attempt to regain the ship during the night,
we turned the boat up and slept under it, while a couple of hands
remained outside to watch the turtles and see that they did not manage
to get on their feet again and escape.

In the morning we loaded the boat, and pulled back with our prizes.

The mate said nothing about the lost rope, as he knew the notion Brown
and the rest had formed of Jim's courage.

We sighted after this several small islands, and then made the coast of
New Guinea.

The captain, seeing a good place for landing, sent a boat ashore with
the doctor and most of us who had been engaged in catching turtle.

It seemed a beautiful country, with magnificent trees, and birds flying
about in numbers among them.

"This is a perfect paradise," said the doctor, as we approached the
beach.

Just then a number of natives came rushing out from the forest,
brandishing clubs and spears. They were the ugliest set of people I
ever saw, their bodies nearly naked and their heads covered with hair
frizzled out like huge mops. They had also bows at their backs, but
they did not point their arrows at us.

The doctor and mate agreed that it would be folly to land amongst them,
so we lay o