

TOM: HIS WIVES HIS BATTLES 297 



grass on bent sticks, and in it she wept and upbraided, and 

 fired up frequently under the torments of jealousy. 



Shrill squabbles were of daily occurrence, until the 

 great Peacemaker removed Tom's favourite wife. And 

 who more sorely grieved than Nelly ! 



Will the title bear a few words as to Tom the hunter ? 

 Was ever a keener, a more patient, a more self-possessed, 

 and consequently a more successful, sportsman ? He it 

 was who, from a cranky punt (no white man would venture 

 out to sea in such a craft,) at three o'clock one windy 

 afternoon, harpooned an immense bull-turtle, which towed 

 him towards the Barrier Reef, into the track of the big 

 steamers 4 miles to the east. He battled with the game 

 all the afternoon and evening, overcame it at " the dead 

 waste and middle of the night," and towed it back to the 

 beach, landing after thirteen hours' continuous work. Tom 

 accomplished the feat in a strong breeze and with a turtle 

 diving and tugging, when he might have cut the line at 

 any moment and paddled home comfortably. 



He is as much at home on the top of a bloodwood 

 tree, hanging round a swaying limb while cutting out a 

 " bee nest," as in a frail bark canoe among the sharks on 

 the skirts of a shoal of bonito. 



As we neared the beach one day a big sea-mullet came 

 into view. Without a moment's hesitation, and as it 

 flashed past the boat, Tom, using the oar as a spear, hit 

 the slippery fish with such precision and force as to impale 

 it. He will harpoon a turtle as it rushes away from the 

 boat, 5 feet beneath the surface, with the coolness of a 

 billiard-player, and with unerring accuracy " taking off" for 

 the speed of the boat and the refraction of the water. All 

 the ways and habits of fish, and their favourite feeding- 

 grounds, are to him as pages of an open book. 



A groper, more voracious and bolder than usual, 

 followed a safely-hooked perch from the dim coral garden, 

 worrying it like a bull-dog. As the struggling fish splashed 

 on the surface the groper, abandoning its illegitimate prey, 



