s ruling in his stead.

The wind was good, and they expected to reach port sometime the next
day. Morning dawned bright and sunny, and after some hours of fast
sailing Daimur was surprised to have a message brought to him that the
Captain had sighted something from the bridge that he wished King
Daimur to see.

Daimur went up at once, accompanied by King Cyril, to whom he had been
talking.

On reaching the Captain's side they saw at once what the trouble was.

In front of them, about six miles distant, lay the Island of Shells,
and between them and it the only entrance to the harbor, a narrow
winding passage between very dangerous reefs, which in places stood
high out of the water.

It was, however, not the reefs that drew their attention.

Directly in front of them, and completely surrounding the passage
through the reefs, lay a dark streak upon the water. It seemed to be
at least half a mile in width and stretched away on either side as far
as one could see.

Although the water all around it was quite rough and choppy this streak
lay perfectly calm, glistening in the sun with peculiar purple and gold
colors.

The Captain had ordered some of the sails reefed, but even so the ship
was going at a good rate of speed and in a few seconds they had run
into it.

It was as though they had struck a bank of soft mud, and so indeed they
thought it at first, though they could not understand how it could have
got there, as the sea was known to be very deep outside the reefs.

The sails, well filled, tried to carry the ship forward, but only
succeeded in getting them a little further into the dark mass.

"What can it be?" cried King Cyril, as everybody rushed to the ship's
sides to see what had stopped their progress.

"It looks and smells like tar," said the Captain, "and now how in the
world are we to get out of it? I've never seen anything like it in my
life, and I've been sailing for forty-seven years."

By this time Daimur had adjusted his magic cap and spectacles and was
surveying the dark sticky streak. He gave way to an exclamation of
dismay.

"What is it?" gasped King Cyril, thoroughly alarmed at seeing Daimur so
affected.

"This stuff is tar," said Daimur, "mixed with various gums and a
terrible acid that is eating into the hull of our ship and will destroy
it within two hours if we cannot succeed in getting it out.

"This is the work of your sister-in-law," he continued, addressing King
Cyril, "