dle of the harpoon. He had slidden to the end of his
tether,--the other end of which was fast to the drogue drifting about in
the sea, as already said, on the opposite side of the carcass.

Heavy as was the piece of wood,--and offering, as it did, a considerable
amount of resistance in being dragged through the water,--it would not
have been sufficient to sustain the huge body of the Coromantee. It
only checked the rapidity of his descent; and in the end he would have
gone down into the sea,--and shortly after into the stomachs of,
perhaps, half a score of sharks,--but for the opportune interference of
the ex-man-o'-war's-man; who, just in the nick of time,--at the very
moment when Snowball's toes were within six inches of the water's edge,
caught hold of the cord and arrested his farther descent.

But although the sailor had been able to accomplish this much, and was
also able to keep Snowball from slipping farther down, he soon
discovered that he was unable to pull him up again. It was just as much
as his strength was equal to,--even when supplemented by the weight of
the drogue,--to keep the sea-cook in the place where he had succeeded in
checking him. There hung Snowball in suspense,--holding on to the
slippery skin of the _cachalot_, literally "with tooth and toe-nail."

Snowball saw that his position was perilous,--more than that: it was
frightful. He could hear noises beneath him,--the rushing of the sharks
through the water. He glanced apprehensively below. He could see their
black triangular fins, and note the lurid gleaming of their eyeballs, as
they rolled in their sunken sockets. It was a sight to terrify the
stoutest heart; and that of Snowball did not escape being terrified.

"Hole on, Massa Brace!" he instinctively shouted. "Hole on, for de lub
o' God! Doan't leab me slip an inch, or dese dam brute sure cotch hold
ob me! Fo' de lub o' de great Gorramity, hole on!"

Ben needed not the stimulus of this pathetic appeal. He was holding on
to the utmost of his strength. He could not have added another pound to
the pull. He dared not even renew either his attitude, or the grip he
had upon the rope. The slightest movement he might make would endanger
the life of his black-skinned comrade.

A slackening of the cord, even to the extent of twelve inches, would
have been fatal to the feet of Snowball--already within six of the
surface of the water and the snouts of the sharks!

Perhaps never in