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"I why he doesn't cut himself loose?" observed Walter, as the sailors pulled with might and main for the spot where the unfortunate Yankee lad had last been seen.

"I reckon he's too bewildered to think of it," replied the officer. But in this he was mistaken; Si had tried to cut the fishline, but in his haste the pocket-knife had slipped from his grasp and sunk from sight. He had also tried to break the line, but it was both heavy and new, and the effort only made the cord cut into the wrist, around which it had become entangled in a most unexpected manner.

The fish at the hook, which was an albacore, or what is commonly called in Atlantic waters a tunny, was a powerful one, and kept the line taut at all times, even when swinging in somewhat of a semicircle. To haul back was out of the question,