up from side to side and taking possession of the stern of the
boat, till a sharp tug of the hook brought its head round, and a thrust
from Shaddy's knife rendered the fierce creature partially helpless.

Rob's arms ached, and his hands were sore, but he forgot everything in
the contemplation of the magnificent fish he had captured. For as it
lay there now, feebly opening and closing its gills, it was wonderfully
like an ordinary gold-fish of enormous size, the orange-and-gold scale
armour in which it was clad being so gorgeous that, in spite of his
triumph in the capture, Rob could not help exclaiming,--

"What a pity to have killed it!"

"There are plenty more," said Joe, smiling.

"Yes, but it is so beautiful," said Rob regretfully.

"Yet we should not have seen its beauty," said Brazier, "if we had not
caught it." And he bent down to examine the fish more closely.

"Mind your eye, sir," shouted Shaddy.

"You mean my finger, I suppose," said Brazier, snatching back his hand.

"That's so, sir," replied Shaddy. "I'd a deal rather have mine in a
rat-trap. Just you look here!"

He picked up the boat-hook and presented the end of the pole to the fish
as its jaws gaped open, and touched the palate. In an instant the mouth
closed with a snap, and the teeth were driven into the hard wood.

"There, sir," continued Shaddy, "that's when he's half dead. You can
tell what he's like when he's all alive in the water. Pretty creetur,
then," he continued, apostrophising the dying fish, "it was a pity to
kill you. They'll be pretty glad down below, though, to get rid of you.
Wonder how many other better-looking fish he ate every day, Mr Harlow,
sir?"

"I didn't think of that," said Rob, feeling more comfortable, and his
regret passing away.

"With teeth like that, he must have been a regular water tyrant," said
Brazier, after a long examination of the fish, from whose jaws the pole
was with difficulty extracted. "There, take it away," he continued.
"Your cook will make something of it, eh, Giovanni?"

"Yes," said the lad; "we'll have some for dinner."

"But what do you suppose it weighs?" cried Rob.

"Good sixty-pound, sir," said Shaddy, raising the captive on the hook at
arm's length. "Wo-ho!" he shouted as the fish made a struggle,
quivering heavily from head to tail. "There you are!" he cried,
dropping it into the dinghy. Then in the Guarani dialect he told two of
the Indian boatmen to take it on board