"Why?" echoed the other men: there were only six of them left altogether. "Because fish is better to eat than human flesh," said the captain. "So it is," said one; "but we haven't any more fishing-line." "Come now," said the captain, "even without that we can manage to catch a shark perhaps. Wait a few minutes. I'll think of a way." And sure enough, very soon he devised a snare. First a running-bowling knot was made; then they cut a leg off the man that WAS dead (terrible to write, but true), and lashed it to the end of an oar; while on the end of another oar they hung the snare in such a way that the fish, to get at the bait, was compelled to come through it. There were plenty of sharks; and it was not long before one fell into the trap. It was dragged on to the raft; and a few blows from an axe soon killed it. After that, the man was sewed in sacking, and the funeral-service was read over him as it had been over all the others who had been buried in the sea. During all this time it was evident that they were near the coast, and yet they never saw it. The captain said that they were in the vicinity of the north-east coast of Australia--a part of the continent which had been very little explored. Here came in Rough-and-Ready's experience. He knew something of the country, he said. It was inhabited by the most savage of the Australian natives, and no white man had as yet had the courage to penetrate far into the country. "Yet we might make the coast," said Rough-and-Ready, "and not see a native for a long time, if we could manage to live; for I don't believe there are a great many of them. Cannibals they are; but, for all that, I should be glad to get among them. We might succeed in working our way down to a cattle-station." "Would there be really a chance of that?" asked one or two. "About a hundred to one against us," replied Rough-and-Ready carelessly; "but that would be better than nothing." Rough-and-Ready gave them a description of some natives that he had seen, and told of their manner of living, their treachery and wildness. It was not very comforting to hear; the prospect of reaching land, and finding themselves in the midst of such savages, was very dismal.