fine fish in them, no nautilus was
found. Ali now made me understand that we should be more likely to
obtain what we wanted near a reef at a considerable distance from the
shore, and taking the oars, he pulled away lustily out to sea. In a
short time a breeze sprang up, when we hoisted our little lugsail, and
skimmed merrily over the water, just rippled into wavelets by the brisk
breeze. Ali's countenance was at no time very prepossessing. I could
not help thinking that it had a more than usually sinister expression.
Still I persuaded myself that this was fancy, and, ashamed of my
suspicions, resolved to do as he proposed. At length I caught sight of
a part of the reef rising a few feet out of the water. By the white
line of the surf which extended on either side, I saw that it was of
considerable length under the surface. Lowering our sail, we pulled
round to leeward of it, where we found the water sufficiently shallow to
enable us to lower the pots. Ali made signs to me that we should be
sure to catch a nautilus at this point if we waited long enough. Having
put down the pots, we pulled a little distance along the reef, where he
proposed fishing with our lines. We had soon hauled in several fine
fish, one an enormous fellow, which must have weighed nearly two hundred
pounds. We had great difficulty in hauling it in; but believing that it
would be acceptable at home, I was unwilling to let it go. The fish
struggled violently, and in our efforts to get it in, one of our oars
slipped overboard. I was so eager to get the fish, that I scarcely
thought of the oar. We then got it into the boat; but it seemed
inclined to take it from us, and send us overboard. Ali hammered away
at its head and tail till at last he quieted it; not, however, till the
oar had been driven by a current to a considerable distance. Scarcely
had we got the fish in, when we had another bite, and this was also a
large fish, and occupied us some time. When I at length looked about
for the oar, I could not see it. We, however, hoisted up the stone
which served as an anchor, and Ali sculled in the direction we supposed
it had gone. He thought he saw it; but when we got up to the spot we
found only a piece of sea-weed floating on the surface.

The weather, as you remember, had begun to change, and I saw it was time
for us to return to the shore. Without an oar, however, this was no
easy task, as the wind had begun to blow directly from t