ad enough shark
for one day. My hand's 'bout cut in two, and my arm's 'bout pulled
outer the socket, and one of my legs was twissen under me when I come
down, I've had enough shark to last me half a lifetime."

CHAPTER EIGHT.

THE NEW LAND.

As the shuddering feeling of what Tom had escaped passed off, we both
thought it would be better to say nothing about it. We knew that he had
acted foolishly; and I felt that I ought to have known better, and then
soon enough, boy like, we forgot it all.

For there was a bright future spread before us, and I began to wonder
how it was that with such lovely places on the face of the earth, people
could be content to live in old England. There, seen through the bright
transparent atmosphere, were convent, cathedral, castle, and tower,
grouped at the foot of a mountain, glistening with endless tints as it
towered up nine thousand feet, wall and battlement running up the spurs
of the great eminence.

The scene was lovely, and I was in raptures then with all that lay
before me, and again I asked myself how people could be content in
chilly Europe; but I soon understood all that.

Tom was walking by my side, and turning to him--

"What do you think of it, Tom?" I said.

"Well, 'taint so very bad, Mas'r Harry," he grumbled out. "But ain't
them sharkses?"

I followed his pointing finger, and, to my horror, I could see, cleaving
the blue and creamy-foamed water, close inshore, the black fins of one--
two--three--half a score of sharks; while all the time, dashing and
splashing in and out of the surf, busily unloading boats and larger
vessels, were dozens of mulatto porters.

I expected every moment to hear a shriek and to see the silver foam
tinged with red. My heart beat intermittently, and there was a strange
dampness in my hands; but I soon learned that familiarity bred contempt,
and that probably from the noise and splashing kept up, the sharks
rarely ventured an attack. But all the same, that one incident made me
gaze down into the blue depths where we were at anchor with a shudder,
and think that the waters were not so safe as those of home.

I had yet to learn something of the land.

"What's this place called, Mas'r Harry?" said Tom, interrupting my
reverie. "You did tell me, but I've forgotten."

"La Guayra!"

"Humph!" ejaculated Tom. "Why can't they call places by some name in
plain English?"

But the various strange sights and sounds soon silenced T