he long gleaming line of the thing
came dimly into view.

The fight had been heard for miles through the lagoon water by all
sorts of swimming things. The lord of the place had got sound of it. A
dark fin rippled the water; and as Dick, pulling on his line, hauled
his catch closer, a monstrous grey shadow stained the depths, and the
glittering streak that was the albicore vanished as if engulfed in a
cloud. The line came in slack, and Dick hauled in the albicore's head.
It had been divided from the body as if with a huge pair of shears. The
grey shadow slipped by the boat, and Dick, mad with rage, shouted and
shook his fist at it; then, seizing the albicore's head, from which he
had taken the hook, he hurled it at the monster in the water.

The great shark, with a movement of the tail that caused the water to
swirl and the dinghy to rock, turned upon his back and engulfed the
head; then he slowly sank and vanished, just as if he had been
dissolved. He had come off best in this their first encounter--such as
it was.

CHAPTER VI

SAILS UPON THE SEA

Dick put the hook away and took to the sculls. He had a three-mile row
before him, and the tide was coming in, which did not make it any the
easier. As he rowed, he talked and grumbled to himself. He had been in
a grumbling mood for some time past: the chief cause, Emmeline.

In the last few months she had changed; even her face had changed. A
new person had come upon the island, it seemed to him, and taken the
place of the Emmeline he had known from earliest childhood. This one
looked different. He did not know that she had grown beautiful, he just
knew that she looked different; also she had developed new ways that
displeased him--she would go off and bathe by herself, for instance.

Up to six months or so ago he had been quite contented; sleeping and
eating, and hunting for food and cooking it, building and rebuilding
the house, exploring the woods and the reef. But lately a spirit of
restlessness had come upon him; he did not know exactly what he wanted.
He had a vague feeling that he wanted to go away from the place where
he was; not from the island, but from the place where they had pitched
their tent, or rather built their house.

It may have been the spirit of civilisation crying out in him, telling
him of all he was missing. Of the cities, and the streets, and the
houses, and the businesses, and the striving after gold, the striving
after power. It may