"You'd better take a look through the glass, before you dive," said Rectus, "and choose what you're going to get."
"I'm not going to be particular," I replied. "I shall get whatever I can."
"The tide's pretty strong," said the captain. "You've got to calkelate fur that."
I was obliged for this information, which was generous on his part, considering the circumstances, and I dived from the bow, as far out as I could jump. Down I went, but I didn't reach the bottom, at all. My legs grazed against some branches and things, but the tide had me back to the boat in no time, and I came up near the stern, which I seized, and got on board.
Both the colored boys were grinning, and the captain said:
"Ye can't dive that-a-way, boss. You'll never git to the bottom, at all, that-a-way. You must go right down, ef you go at all."
I knew that, but I must admit I didn't care much to go all the way down when I made the first dive. Just as I jumped, I thought of the hard sharp things at the bottom, and I guess I was a little too careful not to dive into them.
But now I made a second dive, and I went down beautifully. I made a grab at the first thing my hand touched. It was a purple knob of coral. But it stuck tight to its mother-rock, and I was ready to go up before it was ready to come loose, and so I went up without it.
"'T aint easy to git them things," said the captain, and the two boys said:
"No indeed, boss, ye cahn't git them things dat-a-way."