e we had was about all we could manage. But the bay here is
full of big fish. Suppose we get out the little harpoon and pick up
some drum-fish, channel-bass or a whip-ray?"

When the boys started out for a day of harpooning, Dick sat high up
on the stern of the canoe with the paddle, while Ned stood in the
bow with the harpoon.

"Hadn't you better sit down in the bottom of the canoe to paddle?
The canoe feels wobbly to me," said Ned.

"What's the matter with your nerves, Neddy? I'm not going to capsize
you. S'pose I practiced half a day with that papoose for nothing?"

"Most of that practice was swimming, wasn't it? I don't want any of
that in mine to-day."

Ned harpooned several large drum-fish, and finally got a
channel-bass, after missing several.

"We've got a lot more fish than we can eat now. Let's go for
something big and have some fun. Hit that shark over there."

"That shark could bite this canoe in two and then swallow the
pieces. I wouldn't mind that so much if we were in the Glades, but I
don't want to be set afoot so far from fresh water. See that big
whip-ray! It's a beaut;--paddle up to it, Dick."

Dick paddled toward the fish, which was shaped like a butterfly,
with a back six feet broad, covered with beautiful little white
rings placed on a jet black background. The graceful creature
fluttered along the surface of the bay with a bird-like motion, at a
speed that soon took it nearly out of sight of the boys. Dick
followed it, as it zigzagged about the bay, sometimes skimming on
the very surface and then disappearing in the depths for minutes at
a time. Once it was out of sight for five minutes, and Dick had just
stopped paddling, saying:

"Got to give it up. That big butterfly is the other side of the bay
by this time," when Ned saw the broad back of the creature gliding
beneath his harpoon, beside the canoe and a foot or two under the
surface. His quick side-throw was doubly effective, for the harpoon
was buried in the back of the quarry, while Ned and Dick were buried
in the water of the bay. The center of gravity of the canoe's cargo
of boys was at least two feet above the gunwales of the craft, and
when Ned's side-thrust threw him out of balance, the canoe popped
from under him, and as Dick sat on the stern of the canoe and quite
outside of it, he was in the water as soon as his chum. The whip-ray
had darted away at high speed as soon as the iron touched him, but
before the line which was