und, but not
good enough."

"Ah got a betteh one than this hyeh, boss," put in the boatman, "it's
mah brotheh's, but he might be willin' to sell. Costs mo' than mine,
though."

"Take us there," ordered the capitalist.

The boatman took to his oars with a will, but it was a long pull, almost
an hour elapsing before he stopped, wiped his forehead on his arms, and
said, as before:

"Lots o' sponges hyeh, boss."

At a nod from the prospective buyer, Colin took the water glass and
watched the bottom carefully as the boatman rowed slowly over it. How
the boy wished for the lenses in the glasses belonging to Mr. Collier
which he had used in Bermuda! But still, though the afternoon was
drawing on and the sun did not strike the water at the right angle,
Colin could see that it was unusually fine sponge ground.

[Illustration: YOUNG SPONGE ATTACHED TO CEMENT DISK, READY FOR PLANTING.
(Actual size.)

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]

[Illustration: SHEEPSWOOL SPONGE GROWN FROM SMALL PIECE AS ABOVE, 48
MONTHS OLD, SIX INCHES ACROSS.

_Courtesy of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries._]

"Yes," he said, "that's more like."

Mr. Murren looked about him.

"How in the world do you know, Pete," he said to the boatman, "that this
is your ground or anybody else's? I don't see any stakes or evidences of
ownership."

"If Ah starts to haul up sponges on somebody else's groun' he'll come up
and make me get off, suah," replied the boatman.

"But suppose he doesn't see you."

The boatman grinned.

"Dat certainly am his own lookout, boss," he said.

"What a cut-throat game," ejaculated the would-be buyer. "If a man
bought a place he'd have to watch it all the time, then?"

"Suah, sah."

"Thank you," was the reply, "I'll take some place in shallow water where
I can build a house and hire some fellow to watch it and work it."

"Ain' no trouble hyeh," the boatman said, shrugging his shoulders,
"ev'body wo'k his own patch."

"But how do you get the sponges?" was the query. "You have to dive for
them, don't you?"

The boatman shook his head.

"Sometimes, if de wateh's mo' than fifty feet deep. Not of'en. See, Ah
show you."

He reached under the forward thwart and pulled out a light three-pronged
hook and fitted it to a jointed pole, screwing the two sections together
so that it made one long pole of about twenty-four feet in length. He
took the water glass and rowed the boat until it was directly over a
sponge