h
the ear of and startle some individual not yet completely overpowered by
the drink he had swallowed. Fortunately for me, the gangway ladder had
not been hauled up, and I was consequently free to board the ship well
aft, thus greatly lessening the risk of detection; I had, therefore,
only to wait until the roll of the ship brought the ladder within my
grasp, seize it, and draw myself noiselessly out of the water. This was
precisely the course that I followed; and I had already drawn myself up
clear of the water when there occurred a rush and swirl immediately
beneath me, and I received so smart a blow that I narrowly escaped being
knocked off the ladder, as a large shark sprang half his length out of
the water after me and fell back with a terrific splash, loud enough, I
am sure, to have been distinctly heard on shore, had there been any one
on the beach to hear it. The brute had evidently been lurking under the
ship's bottom--attracted there, doubtless, by the refuse thrown
overboard from time to time by the cook--and had only become aware of my
presence just in time to make a rapid, ill-directed rush that had very
narrowly missed me. Oh, how fervently I thanked Heaven, as I sprang up
the side beyond the reach of a possible second rush, that the necessity
for a cautious approach to the ship had rendered my movements so
noiseless that the great fish had not discovered me until too late!

That the sudden and violent disturbance alongside had, however, not
passed unnoticed on deck was immediately apparent by the appearance of a
human head over the rail by the fore-rigging, only to disappear
instantly, however, and make its reappearance at the gangway. As it did
so, a voice that I instantly recognised as Joe's murmured, in low,
cautious tones--

"Is that you, cap'n?"

"Yes, _Joe_," I replied, with equal caution, as I paused with my eyes on
a level with the rail. "How is it on board? Have the rascals drunk
themselves stupid?"

"Ay! that's just exactly what they _have_ done," answered Joe; "and I
was just creepin' quietly aft to cast Mr Forbes loose, by way of a
start, when I heard the row alongside. How did it happen, sir? Did you
slip and fall back'ards?"

"No," I returned; "it was a shark that rose at me from under the ship's
bottom, and a narrow escape I have had of it; the brute struck me with
his snout, as he sprang out of the water, and all but knocked me off the
ladder."

"A shark?" ejaculated Joe,