paddles. Brown and Sills insisted on going off together,
though Tom and I would have much liked to have accompanied them. They
only proposed, however, to fish inside the reef. The doctor charged
them, as they were shoving off, not to get carried outside, and to
beware of being capsized, for fear of sharks. They laughed and said
that they knew very well how to take care of themselves. We watched
them paddling about, and at times, it seemed, catching a good many fish.
At length they returned on shore.

"Well, you see, doctor, we were not capsized or eaten by sharks,
notwithstanding all your prognostications!" exclaimed Sills as he jumped
on shore.

"I am truly glad to find it," answered the doctor, examining the fish
just caught; "but let me assure you, if you eat those fish, in a few
hours hence it will make but little difference to you; they are without
scales, and of a highly poisonous character."

"I don't believe that, doctor," answered Sills, with a foolish laugh.
"Brown says he has eaten them a hundred times and not been the worse for
them, so I'm not afraid."

"Brown may have eaten the same fish in other latitudes, or at different
times of the year; but from my knowledge of them I should advise you not
to touch them, or at all events eat but a very small portion at a time,
and see what effects it produces."

After this warning I could not have supposed it possible that Sills
would have neglected to follow the doctor's advice; but in a short time
I saw him and Brown light a fire, and proceed to cook the fish over it.
We had manufactured some flour from one of the palms we had cut down,
and with this and some salt they made a hearty meal. Having cooked a
further supply they brought it to us.

"Come--nonsense, take some of this, old fellows," exclaimed Sills,
holding out a toasted fish at the end of a stick. "We are not a bit the
worse for it, you see;--it's very rich and luscious, let me tell you."

"I trust you are right, but wait a few hours; the effects are not likely
to be immediate," answered the doctor gravely. He told me at the same
time to boil some salt water, and to heat several large flat stones--the
only remedies he could think of in his power to apply, should the fish
prove poisonous.

Finding that none of us would eat any of the fish, Sills returned to
Brown and sat smoking and talking for an hour or more. Some hours had
passed after they had eaten the fish, when we saw Sills approac