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The lagoon just here was like a trough, and the reef was very near, scarcely a quarter of a mile from the shore The water did not shelve, it went down sheer fifty fathoms or more, and one could fish froht some food with him, and he placed it under a tree whilst he prepared his line, which had a lu the sinker round in the air sent it flying out a hundred feet fro just at the edge of the water He fastened the end of his line round the narrow ste the line itself, he fished

He had promised Emmeline to return before sundown

He was a fisher patience of a cat, tireless and heedless of time as an oyster He cas were to be found in this part of the lagoon The last time he had hooked a horror in the form of a cat-fish; at least in outward appearance it was likest to a Mississippi cat-fish Unlike the cat-fish, it was coarse and useless as food, but it gave good sport

The tide was now going out, and it was at the going-out of the tide that the best fishing was to be had There was no wind, and the lagoon lay like a sheet of glass, with just a di tide ht of Emmeline and the little house under the trees Scarcely one could call it thinking Pictures passed before his mind's eye--pleasant and happy pictures, sunlit, moonlit, starlit

Three hours passed thus without a bite or sy else but sea-water, and disappointrumble He was a fisherman Then he left the line tied to the tree and sat down to eat the food he had brought with him He had scarcely finished his meal when the baby cocoa-nut tree shivered and became convulsed, and he did not require to touch the taut line to know that it was useless to atte at the end of it The only course was to let it tug and drown itself So he sat down and watched

After a few minutes the line slackened, and the little cocoa-nut tree resumed its attitude of pensive meditation and repose He pulled the line up: there was nothing at the end of it but a hook He did not gru it in, for it was quite likely that the ferocious thing in the water would bite again