ON THE BEACH
The sun had scarcely made its appearance above the horizon the following
day when the inmates of the cave were astir.
"Get up everybody," shouted Grant, the first to arise. "We've got work
to do."
"Yon won't have to call me twice," exclaimed John, hastily rising to his
feet. "It seems to me I've been awake half the night anyway, just
waiting for that old sun to come out and give us enough light to see."
"Suppose it had been a cloudy day and the sun hadn't come out, String,"
said George, who had now joined the others. "I suppose you'd have had to
stay in bed all day. My, that would have been tough luck."
"You're pretty funny for so early in the morning," said John shortly.
"After you've broken your back digging for a couple of hours maybe you
won't feel quite so smart."
"My back will never get tired digging for gold," laughed George. "I
could keep at it for a week and not even feel it."
"An' me too," chimed in Sam. "Ah is pow'ful strong when it come to dat
kind ob diggin'."
"Well, let's get some breakfast and then give all these strong men a
chance," laughed Fred.
"Aren't you going swimming first?" demanded George.
"I'm going, I know that," said John enthusiastically. "I don't intend to
miss any swims in the mornings if I can help it."
"How about sharks?" queried Grant. "I should think you'd have had just
about all the swimming you'd want, String."
"No, indeed," laughed John. "I can tell you one thing, though, and that
is that I intend to stick awfully close to shore."
"You won't be any closer than I will," exclaimed George seriously. "I'll
leave the middle of the ocean to the fish and not dispute it with them
at all."
"Who's coming?" called George, who had already started. It seemed that
every one was, for a moment later the other four members of the little
family were close behind George. All were in excellent spirits and an
air of suppressed excitement seemed to pervade the atmosphere around
about them. When any one spoke it was in a tense tone and every laugh
sounded somewhat nervous. Eyes sparkled eagerly and breath came a trifle
faster when the thought of the buried gold arose in any one's mind.
"Diamond horseshoes, Sam!" exclaimed John, slapping the grinning negro
heartily on the back. "Diamond horseshoes right after breakfast."
"'Deed Ah hopes so," said Sam. "Ah sho' could use one ob dem."
"Not here, though," laughed Grant. "Pretty soon we shan't have anything
to wear if our clothes get very much more ragged."
"That's right, Sam," said John. "You couldn't wear your diamond
horseshoe on this island."
"Does yo' really think dey is any ob dem in dat chest?" asked Sam very
seriously and very eagerly.
"I doubt it," laughed John. "I don't believe they wore such things in
the days when this treasure was buried."
"Dat's all right dough," said Sam cheerfully. "As yo' say Ah wouldn't
hab no use fo' one on dis yere island. All Ah wants am gold enough to
buy one when Ah gets back to Richmon'. Dat's when Ah wants it, an',
golly, say won't dem niggers be jealous." He laughed aloud as he usually
did at the thought, for it was a most pleasing prospect to him. He was
scarcely more than a child in mind; his great, and seemingly his
supreme, desire to make his friends jealous showed this.
"Maybe we'll find some earrings," suggested Fred. "We can wear those,
and if we find bracelets and gold arm-bands and anklets and things like
that we can put them all on and look like a bunch of cannibals."
"You've certainly got a great,--" George began sarcastically, when a cry
from Grant suddenly interrupted him. Grant had gained somewhat on the
remainder of the band and was down near the shore when he called.
"What's the matter with him?" exclaimed John in a puzzled manner. "What
does he see and what's he running after?"
"Let's go find out," cried Fred eagerly.
"Come on everybody! Hurry up!" called Grant, stopping for a moment and
turning around. Down along the coast he ran, passing the ledge where
they usually went swimming and continuing his course towards a small
crescent-shaped beach only a short distance away.
"I'm not going to miss anything," exclaimed George, and he also
commenced to run, followed closely by his three companions.
In a few moments they saw the cause of Grant's excitement. When they
reached the spot where they usually bathed they spied him standing on
the shore gazing at an object which lay at his feet.
"Look at that," exclaimed George, increasing his speed.
"What a monster," echoed Fred.
The remaining distance between them and the object of their attention
was covered in a remarkably short time by the three boys and their negro
companion. Every one was eager to be the first on the spot.
"What do you think of that for a shark?" demanded Grant when the others
had come to the place where he was standing.
"That's not a shark, that's a gunboat," exclaimed George grimly. "Where
did it come from?"
"It washed ashore."
"Is it dead?"
"No," jeered Fred. "It isn't dead, Pop. It just crawled up on shore for
a little nap."
"You think you're smart," retorted George. "I just asked for
information."
"And I gave it to you, didn't I?"
"Stop your fighting, you two," exclaimed John. "Give some one else a
chance."
"How did it get here?" said George curiously. "What killed it?"
"Come around this side and I'll show you," said Grant.
All the others went with George and with the giant shark lying on its
side, its white belly towards the waves, Grant pointed out the cause of
its death.
"There it is," he said quietly. A great gaping wound showed squarely in
the center of the shark's belly. It must have been nearly a foot in
length.
"Whew!" whistled George. "Who did that?"
"Sam did it," said John. "Isn't that right, Sam?"
"Ah reckon it am."
"Is this the shark that was after you, String?" exclaimed George.
"That's the one."
"And Sam killed him," said George unable to fully understand it all. "I
don't see how he did it. Why, this shark must be twenty feet long."
"Yes," cried Grant, "and when somebody told you it was eighteen feet
long you laughed. You said it was the biggest fish story you'd ever
heard."
"I take it back," said George simply.
"How do you suppose he got here?" exclaimed John, who was examining with
personal interest the mouth of the giant fish. Row after row of great
white teeth, sharp as knives, were seen in the huge jaw. John shuddered
as he remembered how nearly he had come to losing his life to those
wicked weapons.
"It simply was washed up here by the waves," said Grant. "It was
thrashing around out there at a great rate after Sam and String had come
ashore yesterday. I suppose it finally died and drifted in."
"Well, I think Sam was wonderful to dispose of that fellow the way he
did," exclaimed George. "How did you do it, Sam?"
"With mah ol' knife."
"You thought he bit the shark to death, I suppose, Pop," laughed Fred.
"Hot air!" was George's only reply to his remark. Just what he meant by
such a slang expression he probably knew best of all.
"Let's measure the shark," exclaimed Grant. "I'd like to settle the
dispute once and for all and then when we go home and tell the story,
people will have to believe us for we'll all be witnesses."
"How are you going to measure?" inquired Fred. "String's shoe is up in
the cave, you know."
"We'll use String himself instead of his shoe," suggested Grant.
"What do you all take me for?" demanded John. "I'm no tape measure."
"How tall are you?" asked Grant.
"Six feet two."
"In your stocking feet?"
"Yes, and my bare feet, too."
"All right then," laughed Grant. "Just lie down alongside the shark."
"Go ahead, String," urged Fred. "It won't hurt you."
"I suppose not," sighed John and he stretched himself at full length on
the beach, the soles of his feet exactly on a line with the tip of the
shark's tail. Grant then marked the spot where his head came and John
moved up to this spot and lay down once more. Again Grant indicated the
spot by a mark in the sand and the performance was repeated. Four times
it was necessary to do this before John had finally covered the entire
length of the shark.
"He's three and one-third times as long as you are, String," announced
Grant, when the measurements were completed.
"That's twenty feet," exclaimed George. "Say, that's a real fish, isn't
it?"
"I should think so," said Fred. "I'm also glad that he is dead and lying
on the beach, for I'm afraid I couldn't enjoy a swim with that fellow
hanging around."
"There are others," said John.
"They won't get me where I'm going in though," laughed Fred. "I'll be so
close to shore that any shark would run aground trying to get at me."
"Let's all go in," exclaimed Grant. "We've got work to-day and if we are
going swimming we'd better hurry."
"Ah mus' hab one o' dem teeth," said Sam, referring to the array in the
ugly mouth of the great shark.
"What do you want one of them for?" asked George curiously.
"'Cause it am sho' to bring yo' luck."
"Then I want one too," cried George. "I want luck myself."
"Get us each one, will you, Sam!" exclaimed Fred. "We can at least wear
them for watch fobs when we get home."
"They'll help us to find the gold maybe," suggested George.
"Don't worry about that," exclaimed John, confidently. "We'll find the
gold all right and we don't need any shark teeth or anything else to
help us, either."
"Well, I say we don't fool around here any more, but go and get the
gold," said Fred. "All we've done so far is to talk about it."
A moment later they were all splashing around in the water enjoying
their early morning swim. Soon afterward they returned to the cave,
where they collected everything they had that might aid them in their
search for the buried treasure. They spent but little time there,
however, and then quickly started on their way towards the big black
rock that was so strangely fashioned in the semblance of a shark. Never
did a party start out more eagerly or with higher hopes than this little
band of castaways on their search for buried wealth.