craft, which would otherwise have floated away, as I should have been afraid to follow it, although an excellent swimmer, as the currents are here so strong that I should probably never have got back again. [Illustration: "I WAS SWAMPED IN A MOMENT."] The canoe came slowly in till it was within reach, when I seized it, and with a mighty effort dragged it ashore undamaged. The lines I also drew in and coiled tidily away, leaving the long one till the last, which, to my great surprise, when I hauled in, still had the monstrous eel in tow. I quite thought he had freed himself when he swamped me, but such was evidently not the case. Having a firm footing I hauled in my line with more confidence, and at length got my lord close to the rocks, and in the clear water could see his huge length and thickness. He was a terrible fellow, and if he had got my legs in his embrace might have easily drowned me; but I did not give him a chance to use either his tail or teeth, but getting his head close to the rocks I took a turn of the line round a projecting crag, and proceeded to slaughter the monster with my only weapon, the paddle. He took a lot of assassinating, but gave up the ghost at last, after I had nearly pounded his head to a jelly. Old "Begum," I must mention, witnessed my sudden departure from my canoe, and the dear old fellow arrived at Rocher Rouge at the same moment that I landed, so that we faced each other dripping wet in a most comical manner. I sent "Begum" to fetch "Eddy," and in the meantime emptied the canoe and put all straight, so that when the two animals appeared on the cliff, standing out in bold relief against the clear sky, I was in my canoe and on the way to the Cotills. They followed me till I landed, and came and stood by me like two old comrades. I had dragged the conger after me through the sea with a cord through his gills, and this cord I attached to "Eddy," who dragged him home in triumph, while I sat on his back, _a la conqueror_, as I rode into my domain, tired and wet, and as hungry as the proverbial hunter. A cheerful blaze of wood soon caused the kettle to boil, and over my tea-supper I congratulated myself over my lucky adventure, for to lose neither fish, canoe, nor self, was indeed a large slice of luck. Next day I improvised a pair of scales with the help of a half hundredweight and a seven-pound weight which I possessed, and found to my surprise that the monster weighed one hundred and three pounds. This was not only the largest eel I ever caught, but the largest I ever saw. In Guernsey market the heaviest conger I saw was one of sixty-seven pounds--a baby in comparison to mine! The weights I used in weighing the monster were stones adjusted to the proper iron weights, which I used as standards, and then by selecting various sized stones obtained after great toil a whole set, from one pound up to ten pounds, and thus could weigh anything.