and armour. Thus equipped, the two boats, with the six men
of the party, set out for the shoal, Sir Reginald, the professor, and
Barker going in one boat, while Mildmay, Lethbridge, and Sziszkinski
went in the other. The passage through the reef lay to windward; the
boats therefore were obliged to run some two miles to the eastward, to
get outside and clear of the reef, and then go either north or south for
about a distance of some two and a half miles to get round to the back
of the reef and the island ere they could shape a course for the shoal.
Luckily, although there was a considerable amount of swell, which burst
upon the reef with a continuous sound of thunder, and threw up a wall of
diamond spray some twenty feet high into the clear, sun-lit air, the
trade-wind was blowing but a moderate breeze, and there was consequently
not much sea. The boats therefore made excellent time, and arrived upon
the shoal some three-quarters of an hour after leaving the ship. And
here, again, they were favoured, from the fact that the shoal lay almost
dead to leeward of the atoll, and but two miles distant from it; they
were therefore in somewhat sheltered water, both as regards the swell
and the sea, neither of which broke on the shoal.

The boats having anchored within a few yards of each other, well in
toward the centre of the shoal, a rope ladder was dropped over the side
of each, the nets were lowered to the bottom, each of them containing
one of the shovels; and then Mildmay and the professor descended to the
bottom, where they met. The water was beautifully clear, and the light
good. They were therefore able to see without difficulty; and a single
glance sufficed to show them that the account of the shoal in von
Schalckenberg's book was in no sense an exaggerated one. They stood
upon a bed of pearl-oysters, so thick that the sand could not be seen.
Moreover, the oysters were of unusual size; not, of course, that that
signified anything, because it is not always the largest oyster that
yields the finest pearls.

The professor glanced about him, taking in as comprehensive a view of
his surroundings as the dense medium in which he was immersed would
permit, took up an oyster or two at haphazard, looked at them, and then
said to Mildmay--

"It appears to me to be quite useless to attempt anything in the way of
making a selection; the only thing that we can do is to take the oysters
as they come, shovel them into the net