The captain nodded approval, but did not hand the boat-hook.
"Better let me," he said. "You shall have a turn with a lance, first
chance. Look, here he comes. Wonderful how these things can move
through the water. You can't see him moving a fin, but he is rising
slowly, and when he likes he can dart through like an arrow. One lash
with the powerful tail sends the brutes a long way. I believe he is
rising now from some management of the air-bladder. Swells himself out
and makes himself lighter."
Jack made no reply, for he was half fascinated, as he gazed down into
the water, by the way in which, after passing under the canoe, the shark
gradually and almost imperceptibly rose, with its head toward them, the
sharply-rounded snout projecting over and completely hiding the
savagely-armed jaws.
"Sit fast and don't move," said the captain, poising the little
boat-hook; "he is sure to lash out, but it will be behind, and can't
touch the boat."
Only a few moments passed, but expectation made them seem minutes,
during which the shark's head came nearer and nearer, and its shadow
cast by the sun was perfectly plain on the sands a few feet below.
Then with all his force the captain drove the pole down; the aim was
good, for the next instant there was a tremendous swirl in the water,
the long, heterocercal tail, through which the creature's spine was
continued to the end of the upper lobe, rose above the surface, and was
brought down with a tremendous blow which raised a shower, and at the
same time Captain Bradleigh's arms were dragged lower and lower, till he
loosened his hold, and the pole of the boat-hook disappeared.
"I didn't mean that, Mr Jack!" he cried, laughing, as the boat danced
up and down, and the lad sat waiting to fire if the need arose. "My
word, what a tug! Enough to jerk a man's arms out of the sockets."
"Will it attack us?" said Jack.
"Not he. Gone to get rid of that thing sticking in his head. No; got
rid of it directly. Lucky for him. I dare say if it had stopped there
his beloved brothers and sisters would have been at him for a cannibal
feast."
For about twenty yards away the handle of the boat-hook suddenly shot
above the surface, and floated, bobbing gently up and down like a huge
quill float, the metal on the end weighting it sufficiently to keep it
nearly upright.
A touch or two with the oars sent the dinghy within reach, and the
boat-hook was recovered, but with its gun-metal head a good deal bent.
"Got a good strong skull," said the captain, holding the end for Jack to
see. "Look under the canoe now."
Jack glanced over the side, and there was not a shark to be seen as the
agitated water grew calm again; but even as he looked, first one and
then another shadowy object reappeared, until five had resumed their
places, waiting for the dead that might float out of the canoe, but in
this case waiting in vain.
"The horrible wretches!" said Jack.
"It's their nature, sir. They are the scavengers of the sea in their
way, just as the crocodiles are of the great rivers.--Row back, Lenny.--
There is your father on the deck."
"And Doctor Instow too," said Jack.
"Here, I say," cried the doctor, "play fair. Don't have all the
adventures to yourselves. Been harpooning fish? Ugh!" he continued.
"Sharks. I should like a turn at them."
Over the breakfast the position was discussed.
"Well, you saw, Sir John, we would be obliged to camp out for one,
perhaps two nights, if we tried to row inside the reef, and it would be
dangerous with the enemy about."
"And the steam is up, and we could run round outside the reef, and be
back here in the evening."
"Why not try inside?" said the doctor.
"I was thinking of it," replied the captain. "There is the risk of
coming upon shallow water; but if Sir John likes we'll try. I can have
a couple of men sounding."
"It would be much more interesting than going out to sea," put in Jack.
"It's so much better than having to be always looking through a glass."
"Try inside, Bradleigh," said Sir John.
"It means coals, sir."
"Never mind that," said Sir John, who had just drawn a deep breath full
of satisfaction to see the intense interest his son was taking in
everything now.
"And what about our friends the blacks?" said the doctor.
"Well, sir, we should find out whether they are neighbours or visitors
from some other island. I expect the latter," said the captain, "but I
want to know."
"Wouldn't there be time to try for the sharks first?" said Jack.
"Oh yes, we could give an hour to that," said the captain; "for perhaps
while we are rounding the island our friends of last night will come and
fetch their boat. They are welcome to it, I suppose, Sir John. You
don't want to take it back to England as a specimen?"
"No," said Sir John, smiling, "let them have it; and I hope we shall see
no more of them while we are here."
There was a little excitement among the men as the cutter was lowered
down, and a couple of small harpoons, two lances, and a little tub
containing a hundred yards of fine strong line carefully coiled in rings
were handed down, along with three rifles.
Jack was looking on deeply interested after going with the doctor and
Edward to fetch these and the necessary ammunition from the little
museum-like place set apart for them and the magazine. He was so much
occupied with the preparations and his eagerness to get back that he did
not notice a peculiar cough which was uttered behind him twice.
But when it was delivered again with peculiar emphasis close by, and
followed by a touch on the arm, he turned sharply round to find Edward
looking at him with a most agonised expression of countenance--so bad
did the man seem that Jack was startled.
"Why, Ned," he cried, "what's the matter? Here, doctor! doctor!"
"Hush! don't, sir, pray," whispered the man. "He couldn't do me no
good. Don't call him, pray."
"But you look horrible," cried Jack.
"So would you look horrible, sir, if you was like me."
"Then why don't you speak out and tell me? Are you in pain?"
"Well, yes, sir, it is pain, and yet it ain't, if you can understand
that."
"Well, Ned, I can't. Let me fetch Doctor Instow."
"No, no, sir, please don't; he'd only laugh at me."
"He would not be so unfeeling, I'm sure."
"But he couldn't do me no good, sir. Please don't. Nobody but you
could do me any good."
"What nonsense, Ned! Just because I gave you a seidlitz powder once."
"I don't mean powders, sir."
"Then what is the matter?"
"Oh, sir, you'd be just the same if you was like me. Can't you see?"
"No; only that you look rather yellow."
"Oh, don't laugh at a fellow, sir. It does seem so hard. Sharks! and
me left behind."
"That's it, is it?" cried Jack, laughing.
"Yes, sir; ain't it bad enough? But I say, sir, it does do a fellow
good to see you laugh like that."
"Absurd! But I meant you to go, Ned."
"Did you, sir?" cried the man joyfully.
"Of course. My father said the other night that I was to take you with
me everywhere I liked, and have you as my regular attendant."
"Did he, sir?" cried the man joyfully. "Think of that now. Well, I was
going to ask him to raise my wages, and now I won't. I say, Mr Jack,
sir, ain't it a lovely morning?"
"I thought it looked rather cloudy just now, Ned," said Jack dryly.
"Now, my boy, are you ready?" said Sir John, coming up.
"Yes, father, but you're not."
"No, I'm not coming this morning. There'll be plenty in the boat
without me."
"Oh!" ejaculated the lad, "you go, and I'll stay behind."
"Certainly not. You'll have the doctor with you."
"And Mr Bartlett," said the captain, strolling up.
"But you're coming," cried Jack. "No; Bartlett's a better hand at this
sort of work than I am. He and Lenny will show you plenty of sport, and
help to rid the seas of some of these dangerous brutes. Now then, over
with you."
Ned did not need the order, for he had already stepped over the side
with the oarsmen.
"Make anything out, Bartlett?" shouted the captain.
"No," came from the mast-head. "I've swept well round, and there's
nothing in sight."
"Come down then, and I'll send up one of the watch."
The mate came down and joined the party in the boat, which pushed off in
the direction of the sunken canoe.
"Stop," cried Jack before they had gone fifty yards.
"What is it?" cried the doctor. "Captain Bradleigh said that he would
have a kind of bait made to attract the sharks."
"Here it is, Mr Jack, sir," cried Ned from the bows. "I'm sitting on
it."
Curious to see what it was like, Jack went forward, the men laughingly
making way for him to pass as they tugged against rather a swift
current, for the tide was setting toward the opening in the reef; and
the next minute he was examining a nondescript affair made of two ship's
fenders--the great balls of hempen network used to prevent injury to a
vessel's sides when lying in dock or going up to a wharf or pier. These
were placed, one inside an old pea-jacket, the other in a pair of
oilskin trousers, and all well lashed together so as to have some
semblance to the body of a man.
"But a shark will never be stupid enough to bite at that," said Jack
contemptuously.
"Oh yes, he will, sir," said the black-bearded sailor, grinning. "The
cook's put a bit of salt pork, beef, and old grease inside. They'll
smell that soon enough."
It was soon put to the proof, for the boat was steered by the mate well
beyond the sunken canoe. The men kept near there by clipping their
oars, and then Jack and the doctor were each furnished with a lance, and
the mate took the harpoon and attached it to the line in the tub.
"Would either of you gentlemen like to have first try?"
"No, no, I want to learn," said the doctor. "What do you say, Jack?"
"No, thank you," said the lad merrily; "I should be harpooning one of
the men."
"Not unlikely," said the mate, smiling. "Don't lift your lances till
they are wanted, and then handle them carefully. I don't say though
that I shall strike a fish," he continued, as he rose in his place and
stood ready, with one foot on the side. "Now then, Lenny, overboard
with the dummy, and make a good splash. Give it plenty of line, and let
it sail by the canoe; then bring it back toward me; and you, my lads,
try and give me a chance by backing water gently. Ready?"
"Ay, ay, sir."
"Over she goes then."
_Splash_! went the awkward-looking bundle the next moment, and began to
float toward the stern of the canoe, beneath which the sharks had lain
that morning, but were too far off now to be visible.
"I say, this is exciting, Jack," cried the doctor, rubbing his hands.
"I hope they'll bite. Pike-fishing's nothing to it."
But there was no sign of anything stirring, as the unwieldy bait was
allowed to float on between the stern and bow of the canoe; and though
Jack watched, holding his breath at times in his excitement, there was
not a ripple, and the dummy was dragged back alongside.
"Was it past there you saw them?" said the doctor.
"Yes, past there. Try again, Mr Bartlett."
"Oh yes, we'll try till we get one or two," replied the mate. "Mustn't
go back without something to show."
The men, who seemed as eager as so many boys, let the bait go again, and
once more drew it back without result, then a third time, but were no
more fortunate.
"The tide's fallen since you were here," said the mate, after a few
moments' thought. "Pull a few yards farther away from the shore, and
let it go down to the right of the canoe, where the water's deeper, and
jerk it about like a man swimming--at least as near it as you can," he
added in a low voice to Jack and the doctor.
"Oh dear, I wish I was at that end of the boat," muttered Ned, as the
bundle floated down again from the fresh place, and it had not more than
reached the canoe when a thrill ran through Jack, for the calm water was
suddenly disturbed as if by something shooting through it.
"Look out!" said the mate sharply; "don't let him have it--make him
follow it up. See him, Mr Jack?"
"No! Yes, I can see that black thing sticking out of the water."
"Back fin," said the mate.--"Well done, my lad. Steady.--Make the poor
victim swim for his life, Mr Jack, to escape the shark. Capital. Do
you see he is following the dummy?"
"Yes, I see," said Jack in a husky whisper. "Shall I get the lance?"
"No, no, not yet. That's to kill him when he's harpooned. This is a
good big chap, judging by the size of his fin. Look at it sailing along
like a tiny lateen-rigged boat. Oh, he's coming on splendidly. Smells
the meat. That's it; coax him well up astern, Lenny."
"Ay, ay, sir."
And there, as the man hauled upon the line, and the dummy answered to
each jerk with a splash, the black triangular back fin of the shark came
on behind, cutting the water steadily, till the fish was only about ten
feet from where the mate stood in the stern, giving a sharp look to see
that the rings of line he had drawn out of the tub would run clear.
"Don't move, either of you," he said sternly, as he balanced the harpoon
pole in his hand, well above his head.
Jack could hardly keep in his place as he strained his eyes to watch for
the shark, and the next minute he saw its white under-part as it turned
on one side to make a snap at the dummy, now close astern; but at the
same moment the mate darted the keen-bladed harpoon downward with so
true an aim that he buried it deeply in the shark's sleek side. There
was a tremendous swirl in the water as the dummy was dragged aboard; the
rings of rope curled over the side, and others began to run out of the
tub at a rapid rate, while the mate took a big leather glove out of his
pocket and put it on.
"This is three times as big as the one that towed us before," he said
quietly; "but we're better prepared this time."
"What are you going to do when the line's all out?" cried Jack
excitedly. "Look! it will soon be gone."
"I'll show you," said the mate, and taking hold of a piece of the rope
secured to a couple of hooks in the outside of the tub, he cast it
loose, hauled a few yards out, and secured the end of the line to a
ring-bolt astern. Then, raising his foot, he pressed it on the line
where it ran over the boat's edge, slowly increasing the pressure so as
to make his boot act as a brake, with the result that the boat began to
follow the shark, at first slowly, then faster, and at last, when the
line was all out, quite rapidly, farther and farther from the yacht.
"Not a wise shark this," said the mate. "He is going against the tide.
Make it all the better, though, for us. Does not disturb the water
where the rest are."
The shark took them for some distance, but at last began to show signs
of being tired, and then made a curve round toward the sands, but,
finding the water too shallow, made a tremendous leap right out, and
came down with a heavy splash, to begin swimming back nearly over the
same ground. "Cannot be better, eh?" said the doctor. "It's splendid!"
cried Jack.
"Haul upon him now, my lads," said the mate. "Take the tub forward."
This was done, the tub placed right in the bows, and as two men hauled,
another laid the line back in rings, till, about a couple of hundred
yards above the sunken canoe, the motion in the water, and the
occasional appearance of the harpoon pole and shark's back fin, showed
that the end was getting near.
"Now, gentlemen, it's your turn," said the mate. "I'll get out of your
way. Hold your lances ready; wait till you get a good chance, and then
thrust hard just behind the head. Into the white if you can."
"Strikes me it only takes one to kill a shark," said the doctor quietly.
"Your lance there, Jack."
"No, no, doctor--you," cried Jack excitedly.
"Don't lose the chance, Mr Jack. Be ready, sir. Haul, my lads. Put
your foot on the thwart, sir. Now then! Let him have it."
Jack stood there flushing with excitement, and with his eyes dilated,
following out his instructor's orders to the letter, till, startled at
the aspect of the monster being brought close up astern, he was ready to
shrink from his task.
But he did not. As the mate spoke he thrust the lance down with
excellent aim, feeling the keen blade pierce into the great fish's side,
and then seeming to dart out again.
"Give it him once more. Well done, sir. Bravo! Now another."
Jack, in his excitement, thrust twice to the mate's orders, and each
time the dangerous brute made a feeble rush, but the harpoon held firm,
and the last thrusts were fatal. The water was dyed with blood, and the
shark turned up, showing all white in the ruddy surface; its tail
quivered a little, and its career was over.
A cheer, headed by Edward, rang out, and the beast was examined before
being cast loose, a clever cut or two from Lenny's knife setting the
harpoon at liberty.
Then, as the dead fish floated away, a good ten feet in length, the tub
was replaced astern, and the dummy brought into requisition for a
repetition of the novel fishing.
"My turn now," said the doctor.
"To harpoon?" said the mate.
"No, no, you do that; I'll lance. And I flatter myself that if I have
as good a chance as Jack here, I can perform that feat more
artistically, and kill the monster at the first stroke."
"Let's see," said Jack, laughing.
The opportunity soon came, for the blood in the water seemed to have
excited the other sharks, one of which, on the same tactics being
carried out, soon became fast on to the line; the harpoon held, and
after it had towed them about a bit it was brought alongside.
"Now's your time, sir," cried the mate, and the doctor delivered a quick
thrust, and, to Jack's great delight, missed entirely.
"Well, that's curious," said the doctor; "I thought I had him."
"Try again, sir."
"Will you let me take my time, Bartlett," said the doctor tetchily. "I
want to strike in a particular place."
The mate remained silent, watching; while, after letting two or three
chances go by, the doctor struck again and wounded the shark, but with a
stroke that seemed to infuse vitality instead of destroying it.
"Lesson, Jack, my lad," he said, rubbing his ear. "Doesn't do to be
cock-sure about anything. Never mind, third time never fails. Here,
you tell me when, Bartlett."
"Very well," said the mate; and as the shark was drawn close up, lashing
about a good deal, he cried, "Now!"
The doctor thrust, and his stroke was this time so true that the
creature gave a few sharp struggles and turned up dead.
"There, Jack," cried the doctor, "what do you say to that?"
Two more were killed in the course of the next hour, and then one of the
men drew the mate's attention to different objects out toward the
opening in the reef, and in turn the mate pointed them out to the doctor
and Jack.
"I can count at least ten," he said.
"What! sharks?"
"Well, their back fins, and they're all heading up this way. Why, they
must swarm on the outside of the reef. We might go on killing them all
day."
"We didn't see any hardly before," said Jack.
"Seems as if the more we kill, the more they come to the funeral," cried
the doctor.
"Oh, the reason is plain enough," said the mate; "they scent the blood,
which is carried out by the tide, and the more we kill, the more will
come."
"Signal from the yacht, sir," said Lenny, pointing to a little flag
being run up.
"All right. Give way, my lads."
The boat's head was turned, and they were rowed rapidly back, this
ending the sharking.
"Strikes me the captain sights the blacks again," said the mate, and in
a few minutes they were alongside.