"I understand," I said. After a silence I added: "Well, there's no chance
now of sending him back, even if I were inclined to do so. He appears to
be familiar with these latitudes. I don't suppose we could find a better
man for our purpose. Do you?"

"No. He was a sponge fisher once, I believe."

"Did he tell you so?"

"No. But yesterday, when you took the boat and cruised to the south, I
sat writing here and keeping up the fire. And I saw Grue climbing about
among the mangroves over the water in a most uncanny way; and two
snake-birds sat watching him, and they never moved.

"He didn't seem to see them; his back was toward them. And then, all at
once, he leaped backward at them where they sat on a mangrove, and he got
one of them by the neck--"

[Illustration: "Climbing about among the mangroves above the
water."]

"What!"

The girl nodded.

"By the neck," she repeated, "and down they went into the water. And what
do you suppose happened?"

"I can't imagine," said I with a grimace.