part of the body, fading
to a dirty white on the lower. A serrated ridge of what might be loose
skin ran along its back from the nape of the neck to the extremity of
the tail, and the body appeared to be thickly dotted with wart-like
excrescences. Altogether it had very much more the appearance of a
reptile than of any other class of the animal kingdom. These details I
was able to observe during the short pause in the fight to which I have
already alluded, but in less than a minute the struggle was resumed with
apparently greater ferocity than ever. Their method of fighting was as
remarkable as their general appearance. Facing his opponent and
crouching low, at a distance of some three or four yards apart, one of
them would suddenly spring high in the air and land upon the body of his
adversary, striking furiously with claws, tusks, and tail, while the
other, throwing himself on his back, would lash out as vigorously with
his own weapons. Then the two would grip, rolling over and over each
other, and for a few minutes it would be impossible to see what was
happening, so quick were their movements and dense the cloud of dust
that they raised. Then would occur a brief pause, to be followed by a
further renewal of the fight. But after about a quarter of an hour it
became evident that the struggle was nearly over. The end came with
dramatic suddenness: the one which happened to be lying upon his back
made a lucky upward stroke with his hind claws, disembowelling his
antagonist as the latter descended upon him, and a moment later he was
tearing great morsels of flesh from the still writhing body of his late
adversary.

"Let draw the fore-sheet, Billy," I exclaimed. "We'll get away from
here as quickly as the wind will take us." For the sight was a horrible
and disgusting one.

An hour later we arrived off a gap about a mile wide between two
headlands, this gap forming the entrance of a noble bay some eight miles
long by five miles wide at its widest part. And, curiously enough,
immediately opposite that gap there occurred a corresponding gap or
break, about two miles wide, in the barrier reef, so that, had the place
been known to mariners, a ship in distress might have passed through
this break in the reef and sailed straight into the bay, even in the
hardest gale that ever blew.

Naturally, I at once headed the boat into the bay, and we sailed to its
farther extremity, hugging the western shore all the way,