CHAPTER XII. 



CATCHING A MAN-EATER, 



Tom's narrow escape — Preparations for the sport — The struggle and 

 capture — Falling on a man-eater — In the moat — The prisoner 

 and provost-marshal — The hermit-crabs — A wonderful assem- 

 blage — The animals on the island. 



OM'S idea was to perpetrate 

 a joke upon his companions. 

 They were all facing the bow of 

 the -Rosetta, and he assumed that 

 they would not miss him for 

 some seconds or until the boat 

 ., came up in the wind, and then 

 would be astonished at his ab- 

 sence. 



Such was the case. The Ro- 

 setta glided on for some dis- 

 tance, then, naturally, came sloAvly up into the 

 wind, and as the luff of the sail quivered and 

 then flapped, the occupants looked around and 



(217) 



