, who had kept him ever since in bondage. He appeared to
be more ready to talk to little Jem than to any one else, and the two
were constantly together. When I tried to find out from the boy what
account Ned gave of himself, Jem was remarkably reticent. At length,
however, one day he said, "He seems to be afraid of some of the men,
sir. He thinks that they intend to do him harm, but I cannot find out
why he has got that idea into his head. I told him that he might trust
you and the first mate, but he only answers, `Better not talk.'"

All had gone well in consequence of the constant watchfulness and
untiring efforts of the first mate, when, as we were within about four
days' sail of our destination, while rigging out a boom on which to set
a square sail, one of our best hands, Dick Mason, fell overboard. The
brig was running about four knots through the water, and as Mason could
swim well, no one felt much apprehension about his safety. The sails
were instantly clewed up, and the only boat which had escaped injury was
at once lowered. Ned and I, with Crowfoot, the boatswain, and two other
hands jumped into her and pulled away towards our shipmate, who was
striking out boldly to meet us. Before the boat was lowered, however,
the brig had run some distance, and we had a considerable way to go.
Just as I was going down the side I saw a black fin rising above the
surface, passing close under the stern. The boatswain I knew had seen
it too, for he urged us to use our utmost exertions to reach Mason, and
sang out to him to keep splashing about with all his might. We did our
best, making the oars bend again. We were within half a cable's length
of the poor fellow, when a fearful shriek reached our ears. I
instinctively turned round just in time to see his head disappear
beneath the bright surface. There was a ripple where he went down, and
as we got up to the spot and looked into the depths of the ocean we
could see a struggling human form surrounded by a ruddy tinge, and the
glittering white of the shark's lower jaws. Ned, who was in the bows,
plunged down his boat-hook, but Mason's hands were already far below the
point he could reach. The next instant the shark had disappeared with
its prey.

All hope of recovering even the body of our poor shipmate was gone, and
we returned with sad hearts on board.

"He is a great loss to us," remarked the boatswain. "He was one of the
men I could always trust, and that