Placing these on the shores of the lagoon, I directed Yamba to build a little bark canoe just big enough to hold her and me.
At length we embarked and paddled out a few hundred yards, when we threw the net overboard.

It had previously been weighted, and now floated so that it promptly expanded to its utmost capacity.

No sooner had we done this than the invisible monster charged down upon us, making a tremendous commotion in the water.

Neither Yamba nor I waited for the coming impact, but threw ourselves overboard just as the creature's white sawlike weapon showed itself close to the surface only a few yards away.
We heard a crash, and then, looking backward as we swam, saw that the long snout of the fish had actually pierced both sides of the canoe, whilst his body was evidently entangled in the meshes of the net.

So desperate had been the charge that our little craft was now actually a serious encumbrance to the monster.