hought, "Shall I have just one more try even without hook or bait?" And
not giving myself any time to think about it, I hurled my line out for
the fourth time and fished and fished and fished and fished and fished
and fished and fished as hard as I could, when fancying that I felt a
nibble, I hauled it in as quickly as possible and found an old
sardine-tin which had become entangled in the line.

'Hastily opening the tin, all I found therein was the head of an old
sprat. "Alas!" said I to myself, "is this, after all my troubles, the
only food I can take to my suffering father and hungering mother and
brothers and sisters; better it would have been had we never been
born!" and the tears streamed down my face.

'As I bent low over my miserable catch a great shadow passed across the
boat and suddenly looking up, I beheld a beautiful albatross sailing in
the sky above me. No sooner did the graceful creature catch sight of the
head of the sprat than it swooped down upon the tin that contained it,
snatching it from my hands, and flew off with it as speedily as
possible. Now it happened I had not let go my hold on the line, the
other end of which was still fastened to the tin, so that in a very few
minutes I felt myself lifted bodily up and whirled through the air and
out to sea at a great speed. Dangling many feet beneath the great bird,
on and on I was carried over the tops of the waves, in the greatest
anxiety lest the marauding fowl should take a lower flight, in which
case I should inevitably have been plunged into the sea and drowned.

'How many miles we travelled thus it would be impossible for me to tell,
but at length my arms grew tired of holding on and supporting my weight,
and I began to fear every moment that I should slip off into the sea,
when I beheld a fishing-boat in the distance, right in our course.
Hoping that we should reach it before my strength gave out I anxiously
watched the vessel as we gradually drew near. At last I found myself
directly over the boat, and shutting my eyes, I let go my hold on the
line, and dropped down right on to a pile of fish in the middle of the
deck, sending them flying in all directions amongst the astonished
fisherman.

[Illustration: I FISHED AND FISHED AND FISHED]

'My remarkable appearance amongst them had the most astonishing effect
upon the fishermen. They one and all leapt into the sea, and
notwithstanding my endeavours to entice them back to the boat, and to
expl