264 ALONG THE FLORIDA REEF. 



ing at the end ; " angels, snappers, grunts, and — 

 there's a shark, too ! " Sure enough, a small 

 shark was in the toils, making the water boil and 

 demoralizing the other prisoners, who made des- 

 perate efforts to escape from his struggles. This 

 would not do, and, seizing a boat-hook, Long 

 John waded in and soon had the young man- 

 eater in the toils. He seemed to be about three 

 feet and a half long. Long John lifted him over 

 to the beach, where he soon flopped back into 

 the water and escaped. 



The net was now well in shore, and the 

 splashing and beating of innumerable fish com- 

 menced. One more pull, and the finny assem- 

 blage was in shallow water. The sight of their 

 catch soon exhausted the adjectives of even the 

 young enthusiasts. There were hundreds and 

 thousands of fishes, leaping, splashing, and 

 bounding, one over another : angel-fishes in gor- 

 geous tints, brown-hued snappers dripping with 

 the molten gold of phosphorescence, yellow 

 grunts making audible protest, ugly toad-fish, 

 long gar-fish, rakish barracuda, prickly porcupine- 

 fish inflating their balloon-like bodies. Over all, 



