believe he would have bitten off, had I not
jumped out of the way.

"Well, as I was saying, the shark did not bite off my leg; the delay
would, at all events, have been inconvenient had he done so. I stroked
his cheeks, and he looked up most lovingly into my face with his
piercing eyes, and then, after he had floundered back into the water, I
got on his back and away we went out to sea towards my ship. My
companions were delighted to see me; the wonder was how they got on
without me. When we dropped our anchor, King Rumfiz and Queen Pillow,
with my wife the Princess Chickchick, came off in a canoe to the ship,
and very much surprised they were to see me on board, not knowing that
my pet shark was in company. My little wife, indeed, thought I was a
ghost, and in her fright jumped overboard, when she was as near as
possible sharing the fate of poor Oilyblubbina, and would have done so
had I not leaped after her and saved her. Not to disappoint my pet, we
gave him afterwards half a dozen fat hogs, which he infinitely
preferred. The captain was so generous with his liquor, that he sent my
royal father and mother-in-law on shore roaring drunk. They were so
happy that they insisted on having a ball at the palace, for which
purpose I issued a decree summoning all the principal people of the
island; and a jolly night we had of it too, the old king toeing-it and
heeling-it away right merrily in the centre of a circle of his admiring
subjects. Everything must have an end, so had my residence in the
island. As I had begun to get rather tired of the monotony of my life
on shore, I determined to make a voyage for the benefit of my health."

"Did you take your wife with you?" asked Gogles, who had swallowed every
word uttered by the boatswain.

"My wife? Oh no; I left her on shore for the benefit of hers. Poor
thing, she cried very much when I went away; it was the last time I saw
her."

"How was that, Mr Johnson?" enquired Grey, "you seem to have been
unfortunate with your wives."

"Yes, indeed, I was," replied the unhappy widower; "I have had ten of
them, too. When I came back, I found that the island had been attacked
by the savages, who had carried off my wife and eaten her. It's a fact.
If they had had a reform, and kept me and my gun among them, it
wouldn't have happened--of that I'm certain. Having taken in a supply
of wood, water, and provisions, the Lady Stiggins once more made sail
for the southward."