h the big fish had
scared the others away, for not another could be seen. The day was done,
and it was growing dark. It was decided to anchor where they were, and
spend the night there; and they hoped the fish would be in biting
condition the next morning.

Achang called the fish the gourami, or something like that; but beyond
this nothing was known about him. Louis, who was generally posted, could
tell his companions nothing about it. But Pitts had cut it up, and it
was fried for supper. The flesh was hard, and the flavor excellent.
There was enough of it for all hands, and the supper amounted to a
feast. A heavy thunder-shower made the evening very gloomy; but the
canvas roof and curtains of the Blanchita fully protected the party from
the rain, which fell in sheets for full two hours.

The next morning when the party turned out, the weather was as pleasant
as they could desire, and the air was cleared and freshened by the
shower. The first thing they did was to throw over their lines; for
they could see the fish through the clear water of the lake. In about as
many minutes they had hooked four fish, though not one of them was so
large as the one Morris had caught the evening before. But at that point
they ceased to bite, and not another nibble was had. Either the fish did
not like the looks of the boat, handsome as she was, which would have
been very bad taste on their part, or the struggles of those which had
been hauled in frightened them away. Very likely the fish could have
explained the reason for their sudden disappearance; but they did not,
and it remained a mystery.

They had an ice-chest on board, and Mr. Eng had replenished it at
Simujan. Pitts dressed the fish, and put them in the refrigerator. For
breakfast they had fresh pork, and it was much better than that they had
had before. They had learned to drink coffee without milk, for it was
not often that it could be procured away from the larger towns.

"I say, fellows, don't you think there can be too much of a good thing?"
asked Captain Scott at the head of the table.

"Of course there can be too much of a good thing; for a fellow might eat
ice-cream till his throat was frozen," replied Felix.

"Almost anything becomes a bad thing when you have too much of it,"
added Louis. "But I think we could have stood about four more of those
nice fish. What is the moral of all this, Captain?"

"With me the moral is that I have had hunting enough for the prese