Elsewhere I have spoken of my _penchant_ for dugong hunting.

Well, one day this sport effectually put an end to all my prospects of reaching civilisation across the sea.

I went forth one morning, accompanied by my ever-faithful Yamba and the usual admiring crowd of blacks.

In a few minutes we two were speeding over the sunlit waters, my only weapon being the steel harpoon I had brought with me from the island, and about forty or fifty feet of manilla rope.

When we were some miles from land I noticed a dark-looking object on the surface of the water a little way ahead.