regions. They had not forgotten the octopus incident either, and
they now appointed their serang to wait upon the captain--a kind of
"one-man" deputation--to persuade him, if possible, to sail for
fresh fishing-grounds. At first Jensen tried to persuade them to
remain in the same latitudes, which is not to be wondered at,
seeing the harvest he had secured; but they would not listen to
this, and at last he was compelled to direct his ship towards some
other quarter. Where he took us to I cannot say, but in the course
of another week we dropped anchor in some practically unexplored
pearling grounds, and got to work once more. Our luck was still
with us, and we continued increasing every day the value of our
already substantial treasure. In these new grounds we found a
particularly small shell very rich in pearls, which required no
diving for at all. They were secured by means of a trawl or scoop
dragged from the stern of the lifeboat; and when the tide was low
the men jumped into the shallow water and picked them up at their
ease.

One morning, as I was opening the shells as usual, out from one
dropped three magnificent black pearls. I gazed at them,
fascinated--why, I know not. Ah! those terrible three black
pearls; would to God they had never been found! When I showed them
to the captain he became very excited, and said that, as they were
worth nearly all the others put together, it would be well worth
our while trying to find more like them. Now, this meant stopping
at sea longer than was either customary or advisable. The pearling
season was practically at an end, and the yearly cyclonic changes
were actually due, but the captain had got the "pearl fever" very
badly and flatly refused to leave. Already we had made an enormous
haul, and in addition to the stock in my charge Jensen had rows of