d sent for me. The lagoon was here surrounded by a
finely-wooded country, slightly mountainous. Perhaps I ought to have
stated that I had already gleaned from the mail-men, or runners, who had
been sent with the message, that the waters of the lagoon in the vicinity
of the camp had long been disturbed by some huge fish or monster, whose
vagaries were a constant source of terror. The dreaded creature would
come quite close inshore, and then endeavour to "spear" the women with
what was described as a long weapon carried in its mouth. This, then,
was the evil spirit of the lagoon, and I confess it puzzled me greatly. I
thought it probable that it was merely a large fish which had descended
in a rain-cloud among countless millions of others of smaller species. I
looked upon the commission, however, as a good opportunity for displaying
my powers and impressing the natives in that country--I always had the
utmost confidence in myself. Before setting out I had spent some little
time in completing my preparations for the capture of the strange
monster.

The very afternoon I arrived I went down to the shores of the lagoon with
all the natives, and had not long to wait before I beheld what was
apparently a huge fish careering wildly and erratically hither and
thither in the water. On seeing it the natives appeared tremendously
excited, and they danced and yelled, hoping thereby to drive the creature
away. My first move was in the nature of an experiment--merely with the
object of getting a better view of the monster. I endeavoured to angle
for it with a hook made out of a large piece of sharpened bone. I then
produced large nets made out of strips of green hide and stringy-bark
rope. Placing these on the shores of the lagoon, I directed Yamba to
build a little bark canoe just big enough to hold her and me.

At length we embarked and paddled out a few hundred yards, when we threw
the net overboard. It had previously been weighted, and now floated so
that it promptly expanded to its utmost capacity. No sooner had we done
this than the invisible monster charged down upon us, making a tremendous
commotion in the water. Neither Yamba nor I waited for the coming
impact, but threw ourselves overboard just as the creature's white
sawlike weapon showed itself close to the surface only a few yards away.
We heard a crash, and then, looking backward as we swam, saw that the
long snout of the fish had actually pierced both side