; and
was soon again joined by his brother "piscator," who, after settling the
scores with the second fish he had caught, had adjusted a fresh bait,
and once more flung his line into the water.

For some reason or other, the albacores became suddenly shy,--not as if
alarmed at the action of the anglers, but rather from having their
attention attracted to some other object invisible to the eyes of those
on the _Catamaran_. The fish were so near the raft, that every movement
made by them could be easily observed,--even to the glancing of their
silvery irides,--and those who observed them could see that they were
looking aloft.

Up went the eyes of the _Catamarans_, both anglers and idlers turning
their glances towards the sky. There was nothing to be seen there,--at
least, nothing to account for the shyness of the fish, or the upward
cast of their eyeballs. So thought three of the party,--little William,
Lalee, and the sailor,--who beheld only the blue, cloudless canopy of
the heavens.

Snowball, however, whose single experience of ocean-life was greater
than the sum total of the other three twice told, did not, like the
rest, desist all at once from his scrutiny of the sky, but remained
gazing with upturned look for period of several minutes.

At the termination of that time, an exclamatory phrase, escaping from
his lips, proclaimed the discovery of some object that, to his mind,
accounted for the odd behaviour of the albacores.

"De frigate-bird!" was the phrase that came mutteringly from between
Snowball's teeth. "Ya, ya,--dar am two ob dem,--de cock an' hen, I
s'pose. Dat 'counts for de scariness of dese hya fish. Dat's what am
doin' it."

"O, a frigate-bird!" said Ben Brace, recognising in Snowball's synonyme
one of the most noted wanderers of the ocean,--the _Pelicanus aquila_ of
the naturalists, but which, from its swift flight and graceful form, is
better known to mariners under the appellation given to it by Snowball.

"Where away?" interrogated the sailor. "I don't see bird o' any sort.
Where away, Snowy?"

"Up yonner,--nearly straight ober head,--close by dat lilly 'peck ob
cloud. Dar dey be, one on de one side, odder on fodder,--de ole cock
an' de ole hen, I'se be boun!"

"Your daylights be uncommon clear, nigger. I don't see ne'er a bird--
Ah, now I do!--two of 'em, as you say. Ye're right, Snowy. Them be
frigates to a sartainty. It's easy to tell the cut o' thar wings from
any other b