e larger of these dreaded fish had died in the same manner there
was no reason to doubt; but probably it had sunk in the deep water
outside the barrier reef.

_On Board the "_Tucopia_."

The little island trading barque _Tucopia_, Henry Robertson, master, lay
just below Garden Island in Sydney Harbour, ready to sail for the
Friendly Islands and Samoa as soon as the captain came on board. At nine
o'clock, as Bruce, the old, white-haired, Scotch mate, was pointing out
to Mrs. Lacy and the Reverend Wilfrid Lacy the many ships around, and
telling them from whence they came or where they were bound, the second
mate called out--

"Here's the captain's boat coming, sir."

Bruce touched his cap to the pale-faced, violet-eyed clergyman's wife,
and turning to the break of the poop, at once gave orders to "heave
short," leaving the field clear to Mr. Charles Otway, the supercargo of
the _Tucopia_, who was twenty-two years of age, had had seven years'
experience of general wickedness in the South Seas, thought he was in
love with Mrs. Lacy, and that, before the barque reached Samoa, he would
make the lady feel that the Reverend Wilfrid was a serious mistake, and
that he, Charles Otway, was the one man in the world whom she could love
and be happy with for ever. So, being a hot-blooded and irresponsible
young villain, though careful and decorous to all outward seeming, he
set himself to work, took exceeding care over his yellow, curly hair,
and moustache, and abstained from swearing in Mrs. Lacy's hearing.

* * * * *

A week before, Mr. and Mrs. Lacy had called at the owner's office and
inquired about a passage to Samoa in the _Tucopia_, and Otway was sent
for.

"Otway," said the junior partner, "can you make room on the _Tucopia_
for two more passengers--nice people, a clergyman and his wife."

"D----all nice people, especially clergymen and their wives," he
answered promptly--for although the youngest supercargo in the firm, he
was considered, the smartest--and took every advantage of the fact. "I'm
sick of carting these confounded missionaries about, Mr. Harry. Last
trip we took two down to Tonga--beastly hymn-grinding pair, who wanted
the hands to come aft every night to prayers, and played-up generally
with the discipline of the ship. Robertson never interfered, and old
Bruce, who is one of the psalm-singing kidney himself, encouraged the
beasts to turn the ship into a floating Be