he brig was safe enough as far as ocean
and weather went; nothing could hurt her as she lay mud-cradled on her
fat bilge. We clewed up and let the canvas hang by its rigging, and
then dropped the anchor; after which old Bunk and the others cleaned
themselves up and got the boat over, and went away in her, singing
songs, leaving me and William to look after the brig.

It was ten o'clock in the morning, a very fine hot day. I went into
the cabin for a smoke, and after lounging an hour or so below whilst
the boy boiled a piece of beef for our dinner, I stepped on deck, and
found that the sea was already half-way out of the bay with twenty
lines of foaming ripples purring not a quarter of a mile off, and the
channel of the river was already plain, coming out from the land, and
through the dry mud like a lane of water till it met the wash of the
yellow brine and melted into it. The brig lay with an uncomfortable
list to starboard. When the mud should come a-dry it would be an easy
jump from her decks to it.

At half-past twelve William came below with my dinner, and I told the
lad to out with his knife and eat with me. We munched together, taking
it easy. There was nothing to be done on deck, no sign of the tug, no
use we could put her to, even if she should heave into sight, and the
time hung heavy. After dinner I lay upon a locker smoking, and William
sat at the table with a pipe in his mouth.

Presently I thought I heard a noise of something moving in a
scratching sort of way on deck. I listened and then heard nothing. A
little later, happening to be looking at William, I heard the same
noise, and that moment I fancied a kind of shadow passed over the
glass of the grimy little cabin skylight.

I said to William: "Step on deck, my lad, and see if anybody's come
aboard."

He went up, and was not gone a minute when I heard him scream
shockingly. The shriek was full of terror and agony, and froze my
blood. I rushed on deck and saw the figure of William under the paw of
a large yellow tiger! I stared madly, as though my senses were all
gone wrong and reporting a nightmare. But the big beast, turning its
head, spied me, swept the planks with its tail, crouched in cat-like
way, and was coming for me.

With a roar of terror I sprang for the main rigging, and in a few
breathless moments was safe in the top.

It was all sheer mud now to the very forefoot of the brig; but the
half of her lay afloat in the stream of the rive