The sailor had left the edge of the boat wet, and Syd's shoes were
soaked and slippery, so that one of them glided sidewise; there was no
chance of recovery, and he went down headlong into the deep. It was so
sudden that he was below the surface with the water thundering in his
ears almost before he was aware that he had fallen. But he was a good
swimmer, and had practised diving often enough, and he knew that he had
only to take a few strokes to rise clear of the boat, and then a few
more in order to be taken in.

As he swam below after going down some distance he was aware of what
seemed to be a black cloud over his head, which he knew was the boat;
then he was rising again through the sunlit water, and as his head rose
into the sunshine a cold chill of horror paralysed every energy, for he
knew that he was almost within the jaws of death.

It was all so rapid that he hardly knew how it took place; but he had
been long enough at sea to know that the long, thin, curved shadow
approaching him was a huge shark, and that before he could reach the
boat the monster would have seized him.

He was conscious of a wild shouting in the boat, of the rapid beating of
oars which made the water fly up in fountains; then, as he swam with all
his might, of a violent blow on the shoulder followed by a jerk, and
then half insensible from the shock he was being dragged over the boat's
side.

Amid the babel of voices that ensued, Syd made out a few words here and
there.

One man said: "It's broke my arm a'most; the beggar made such a jerk."

"It's broke this oar," growled a well-known voice. "I give it him just
in the jaws as he turned over."

"Ah!" said one of the men, "if that had been steel 'stead o' wood you'd
ha' gone right through him."

"Yes," growled the boatswain, "'stead o' having a broken oar. Well, if
the skipper says I must pay for it, why I must."

"Yah! nonsense!" muttered another. "What, arter saving his boy's life?"

All this brought back to Syd's memory matters which he had seen dimly in
the exciting moments during which he was saved from a horrible death;
and that which he had not seen, imagination and the men's words
supplied. But he could recall something of a sturdy man standing up in
the boat and making a thrust at the shark, and while he was realising
that this man was Barney, one of the sailors said--

"And if I hadn't ketched hold o' you, Mr Bo'sun, by the waistband o'
your breeches, you'd ha'