me of
them penetrated the sails, but no one was injured. The natives were too
much afraid to advance any farther, and as a wind had now sprung up we
deemed it time to make a dash for liberty. We therefore quietly slipped
our anchor and, heading the ship for the open sea, glided swiftly past
the enemy's fleet, whose gaily decked, though sorely bewildered, warriors
greeted us with a Parthian flight of arrows as we raced by. In another
half-hour we were well out to sea, and able to breathe freely once more.

CHAPTER II

The three black pearls--The fatal morning--Jensen and his flotilla drift
away--Alone on the ship--"Oil on the troubled waters"--A substitute for a
rudder--Smoke signals--The whirlpool--The savages attack--I escape from
the blacks--A strange monster--The _Veielland_ strikes a reef--Stone deaf
through the big wave--I leap into the sea--How Bruno helped me ashore--The
dreary island--My raft--A horrible discovery.

This adventure made our Malay crew very anxious to leave these regions.
They had not forgotten the octopus incident either, and they now
appointed their serang to wait upon the captain--a kind of "one-man"
deputation--to persuade him, if possible, to sail for fresh
fishing-grounds. At first Jensen tried to persuade them to remain in the
same latitudes, which is not to be wondered at, seeing the harvest he had
secured; but they would not listen to this, and at last he was compelled
to direct his ship towards some other quarter. Where he took us to I
cannot say, but in the course of another week we dropped anchor in some
practically unexplored pearling grounds, and got to work once more. Our
luck was still with us, and we continued increasing every day the value
of our already substantial treasure. In these new grounds we found a
particularly small shell very rich in pearls, which required no diving
for at all. They were secured by means of a trawl or scoop dragged from
the stern of the lifeboat; and when the tide was low the men jumped into
the shallow water and picked them up at their ease.

One morning, as I was opening the shells as usual, out from one dropped
three magnificent black pearls. I gazed at them, fascinated--why, I know
not. Ah! those terrible three black pearls; would to God they had never
been found! When I showed them to the captain he became very excited,
and said that, as they were worth nearly all the others put together, it
would be well worth our while tryi