calls it, was chock full o' sharks--millions of
'em."

"Were there now, Billy?" said Small, smiling.

"Well, of course I can't say to a few, for we was a good ways off; but
what I do say is that it seemed the sharkiest spot I ever see; and, if
they'd only have stood still, you might have walked on their backs for
miles."

"Give Billy Widgeon a cocoa-nut to stop his talk," said the boatswain;
"and there's a bit o' 'bacco for you, Billy, to clear your memory, my
lad."

"Oh, my memory's clear enough, Mr Small, sir," said Billy, who was
eating something all the time; "but thanky all the same. And now, how
have you got on?"

"Oh," said the boatswain, "we've had a bit of a scare!"

But a narration of this was being given where the other occupants of the
boat were partaking of their evening meal.

"Did the creature seem to come any nearer?" said the captain as the
little group sat beneath the edge of the cocoa-nut grove, satisfying
themselves with the reflected light of the men's fire, which had been
lit as a beacon to attract them home.

"I think yes, decidedly," said Morgan, who was rapidly getting better.

"So did I at first," said the major; "but I have been in Africa as well
as India, and have heard lions roar. When one of these gentlemen is
doing a bit of nightingale he roars in one direction, then in another,
now with his head up, and now with it down; and when you add to it that
he roars loud and roars soft, he seems to be quite a ventriloquist, and
you are puzzled."

"But I think the animal came nearer, my dear," said Mrs O'Halloran.

"I think so, too," said Mrs Strong.

"I'm sure it did, papa," cried Mary.

"Then I'm not," said her father. "It is impossible to tell how near a
cry from a jungle may be."

"Well," said the captain, "it is not pleasant to know that such a savage
creature is close to our camp. Something must be done."

"Seems a pity to pull up stakes and move," said the major.

"Pity!" said the captain. "Suppose we do move to the far side, we shall
still be within reach. We are fixed here, and it seems to me to be the
best spot we can find, and the farthest from the volcano. I'm afraid it
must be a case of war. Either our friend must be driven away or killed.
What do you say, major, to an expedition in search of him?"

"I'm willing," said the major.

"But the risk?" said Mrs Strong.

"More risk in waiting to be attacked than in attacking," said the
captain. "I feel that w