not in time. With a gurgling cry Davis was jerked
under the water suddenly. Next moment the water bubbled, and before it
grew calm again the surface was stained with blood.

"A shark's got him!" shrieked Hookway. And as he cried the great black
fin of some awful thing came gliding after the cutter.

"He's had _his_ dinner," said Gilliland grimly; "and he's waiting for
his supper now!"

III.

Oh! that terrible night, with the full moon shining down upon the quiet
water! So still! So calm! Not a ripple on the wave! And that awful black
something silently following us!

Sylvia lay with her head upon the doctor's knee--one poor thin arm, half
bared, across my lap. And so the morning found us.

There was something the matter with Evans--something desperate. He was
beginning to look like Davis--only worse. Something horrible in his
ghastly face. It was wolfish. And his eyes--they were not like human
eyes at all--they were the eyes of some fierce, wild beast. And they
were fastened with a wolfish glare on Sylvia's half-bared arm. _He
wanted to eat it!_

Stealthily he had got his clasp knife out. And stealthily he was
crouching as if to make a spring. And I couldn't speak!

My tongue, as the Bible expresses it, clave to the roof of my mouth. I
was powerless to make a sound. And none of the others happened to be
looking at him.

I put my hand on Mr. Wheeler's knee and gave him a feeble push. I
pointed dumbly at Evans.

"Put down that knife!" cried Mr. Wheeler in a voice of command. "Evans!"

With a cry so hideous--I can hear it now--the man lunged forward. Mr.
Wheeler tried to seize the knife; but Evans suddenly plunged it into his
shoulder; and the first mate fell with a groan.

Then there was an awful struggle.

Gilliland and Hookway fighting with Evans. And the doctor trying to
protect Sylvia and me; and dragging the first mate away from the
scuffling feet. And I praying out loud in my agony that death might come
to our relief.

He was down at last. Lying in the bottom of the boat, with Gilliland
sitting astride him, and Hookway getting a rope to tie him up! The
doctor leaning over Mr. Wheeler and trying to staunch the blood, and the
first mate fainting away!

And then--Oh! heavens! with a cry--Gilliland sprang to his feet,
shouting! gesticulating! waving his cap! Had he, too, now, suddenly gone
mad?

"Ship ahoy! ahoy!" he shrieked, and we followed his pointing hand.

And there, on the bosom of the