254 A Sportsman at Large 



glories of this submarine paradise. There, not twelve feet 

 from the boat, a large, round and dark head was thrust above 

 the surface, with great, lustrous eyes fixed upon us in obvious 

 curiosity and amazement. It was one of the large marble 

 seals which affect these parts. Having satisfied itself that 

 our intentions were amiable and pacific, it sank slowly beneath 

 the waters, and was lost to sight. 



Now our boatman seized a good-sized rock from the heap 

 which he had collected in the bows of the boat, and heaved 

 it into the recesses of the cave, where its violent impact caused 

 a hundred echoes to reverberate in the rocky depths. Scarcely 

 was my gun at the ready when a flock of the " rocks " burst 

 from the aperture at terrific speed. The boat was swaying 

 violently, thus rendering chances very difficult. I let off 

 both barrels wildly, so was hardly surprised when the birds 

 went on their way intact. Another missile brought two 

 belated pigeons to open air. One of these I dropped in first- 

 rate style. 



Having exhausted that particular cave we proceeded further 

 on our quest. The shooting was exceedingly difficult ; so that 

 I only succeeded in accounting for an average of about one 

 bird to every three shots fired. 



Gunn had told me that the best cave of all was still further 

 ahead ; so, being by now well-primed with the excitement 

 of the chase, I bade him lay to ; but he suggested that the 

 turn of the tide was at hand, and that we might have some 

 difficulty in bringing up to the bay again. Moreover, he 

 pointed to the south-west, where an ominous bank of dark 

 clouds was massing. So I decided to abandon the sport for 

 the nonce. 



We had not gone far on the homeward journey, when I 

 devoutly wished that honest John had imparted his warning 

 sooner and more emphatically, for we were making poor way 

 against the tide, which was increasing in power and rapidity 

 every moment. I could see, from the boatman's countenance, 

 that he was becoming seriously alarmed, and that his exertions 

 were beginning to tell on him ; so I ordered him to ship sculls, 

 so that Henry George and I could take a turn at the sweeps, 

 which luckily we had brought with us. The wind was now 



