een
that the boat was properly secured. He had not forgotten those huge
monsters of sharks, which had been prowling about, but there was only
one way by which the boat could be regained. Somebody must swim off to
her. These thoughts rapidly passed through his mind. The swim itself
was nothing; he had often swum ten times further without fatigue. But
those sharks! He recollected the shudder which had passed through him
as he had seen them approach the boat not two hours before. Without
saying anything, he had quickly thrown off his clothes.

"Shout, all of you, as loud as you can," he exclaimed. "Good-bye,
Desmond; good-bye, Billy," he said, shaking hands. "If I am swallowed
by one of those brutes, say it happened while I was doing my duty."

Without another word, Tom plunged in, and the rest of the party, rushing
forward up to their knees, began splashing the water about, and shouting
at the top of their voices.

"I cannot let him go alone," said Jerry Bird, as soon as he saw what the
midshipman was about. Throwing off his jacket and shirt, he followed
Tom, shouting out lustily.

"I am coming, Mr Rogers," he cried; "you climb in on one side of the
boat, and I will on the other."

Tom was within a couple of fathoms of the boat, when to his horror he
saw a dark fin, just rising above the water. It was stationary,
however. Perhaps the savage brute was merely surveying the boat, and
wondering what strange creature it was.

Tom, undaunted by the sight, swam on. He might manage to scramble on
board before the shark caught sight of him.

"Do not lose heart, Bird," he cried out, for he guessed that his
companion would have seen the shark's fin; "the chances are that he
won't attack two of us."

A few strokes more, and Tom had got hold of the gunwale of the boat;
Jerry had seized that on the other side.

Tom, being in no way fatigued, easily held himself up, and, having got
his left leg over, was about to drag up the other, when Jerry threw
himself in and tilted the boat over to the side he was on. It was a
fortunate movement, for the shark ran his snout against the side,
missing Tom's foot almost by a hair's breadth. Tom felt the brute's
head strike against the boat, and well knew what had happened. It made
him draw his breath quickly; but he had work before him. Without
stopping a moment, he and Jerry, seizing the oars, rapidly pulled the
boat back to the beach. Their companions gave way to a heart