“For how long I steered on I cannot tell, but it must have been for a considerable time. I had long since passed the river-mouth where I was washed ashore when I escaped from the savages. Upon my right was a line of towering cliffs, rising sheer from the water’s edge, for perhaps three hundred feet or so. I was keeping well out from shore on account of the presence of numerous sunken rocks, whose jagged crests showed just a few inches below the surface of the water. Suddenly, rounding a rocky headland, the _Seal_ swept into a sheltered bay, a splendid natural harbour in the heart of the cliffs, and here I determined to stay for a while. The cliffs precluded all chance of attack from shore, and the narrow entrance of the bay was sufficient guard against the visit of another saurian, though at the moment I doubt if I should have cared much had one appeared, so apathetic had I grown. But I paid clearly for my carelessness. “As I brought the vessel to, I never noticed that the surface of the water around was covered with great floating masses of a jelly-like substance. This fact was only brought to my notice when I saw the deck swarming with what I took to be jelly-fish. The presence of the creatures did not trouble me, however, and feeling weary, I securely locked the turret door, and went below for a time. “I must have slept for about three hours then, on returning to the wheelhouse, I discovered that the jelly-fish still swarmed the deck, being if anything thicker than before. ‘I’ll soon get rid of these things,’ I thought, and stepping down to the engine-room, set the engines going at ten knots. Half a dozen revolutions they made, then stopped, nor could I get them to go again. Evidently the propellers were fouled by the slimy creatures. “‘Beastly nuisance!’ I muttered, and picking up an axe, sallied forth to get rid of the encumbrance. Two steps I took on the slippery masses which covered the deck-plates, then slipped, only just saving myself from falling. I must be more careful, I decided, and commenced to pick my way as best I could amid the greasy things which squelched beneath my feet at every step. A sickening odour filled the air, indescribably offensive, and this, added to the sight of the things, almost made me ill. I clambered out to the extreme point, just above the screws, and from there I could see that the water for many feet below the surface was alive with the jelly-fish. They hung in great knotted masses from the stern of the vessel; the propellers were completely smothered beneath a score or so of the things, and I saw at once that to get rid of them by means of the axe was absolutely impossible.