270 . N1MROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



I cried to myself, " Don't think, but swim swim for dear 

 life, for those who love you, for the future, so beautiful, so 

 hopeful ; strike out, and don't let the leaden heart sink you." 

 Three strokes more two strokes and I was under the 

 boat. The keen lance was now gleaming just overhead, and 

 I felt safe under the sure aim of that trained hand. A bow- 

 line was thrown by glad hands, and in a moment I stood 

 panting, almost fainting, in the chains; below me, in the 

 blue water, the shark. "All right ; thank you, boys," I mur- 

 mured. " I only want breath." And all hands resumed duty, 

 my adventure having added a drop to the tide of events in 

 the Chelsea's cruise. 



The Kanakas seem to be in their native element in the 

 sea. I was told that some of them leaped from the rail to- 

 day, and passed under the keel, coming up on the opposite 

 side. "'Jack of Maui," with serious face, tells us that bad 

 Kanakas dive and steal their neighbor's fish-hooks, when 

 fishing in deep water. Now, a pearl hook is the result of 

 much patient labor, and such a prize might tempt a lazy angler 

 to take to deep water to obtain one. A favorite story of Mr. 

 F 's humorously illustrates the patience of these people : 



An old Kanaka, trading with some ship, had set his heart 

 on a sail-needle ; but the supply having run short, he was 

 denied. He saw a crow-bar, however, and went to the cap- 

 tain, and made trade for this, as the nearest fulfillment of 

 his want. After a cruise the vessel returned, and the crew 

 found the old fellow patiently grinding away his bar with a 

 piece of pumice-stone, in the hope of ultimately working the 

 coveted needle out of it. But his heart was worried by his 



inability to get an eye into it, after all. Mr. F said that 



the production of one of their beautiful pearl hooks, with 

 their simple appliances, required a degree of patience well 

 illustrated in the grinding of a crow-bar to a sail-needle with 

 pumice-stone. 



