The Ocean Waifs Part 15

He was soon satisfied of the correctness of his conjecture. On the instant of his turning he beheld Ben Brace,--or rather, only the head of that individual,--just visible above the rippling surface of the sea.

Close by was another head, of smaller size, with dark ringlets floating on both sides of it, and a tiny arm stretched out and apparently clinging to the shoulder of the seaman.

s...o...b..ll needed no one--not even little William--to interpret what he saw. At a glance he comprehended what had occurred during his sleep,-- all except the cause. Little did he suspect that the disaster had its origin in his own negligence. But it did not need that thought to beget within him a feeling of anxiety,--or, rather, of intense alarm.

This feeling did not arise on the instant. Seeing the girl sustained by such a strong swimmer as he knew his old shipmate to be, he had but little fear for the result,--so little that he checked his first impulse, which was to leap overboard and swim to the a.s.sistance of both.

A moment's reflection, however, satisfied him that there was still danger both for Lalee and her brave rescuer,--a danger which little William while giving utterance to that joyful "Hurrah!" had not taken into account. The lad had seen the girl picked up by the strong seaman; and, having an unlimited faith in the prowess of his own protector, he had no other thought than that the latter would soon swim back to the _Catamaran_, bearing his light burden along with him.

In his joy little William had overlooked the circ.u.mstance that the _Catamaran_ was _under sail_, and moving through the water at a rate of speed that the swiftest swimmer, unembarra.s.sed with the slightest weight, might in vain attempt to overtake her!

This sinister circ.u.mstance, in the excitement of the hour overlooked by the youthful sailor, was even, for a moment, unthought of by the more experienced mariner,--for s...o...b..ll, in addition to being a sea-cook, was also a competent seaman. Not for long, however, did the latter continue unconscious of the danger. Almost on the instant did he perceive it; and quickly squatting himself in front of the cask, he took hold of the steering-oar,--which he had so culpably neglected,--and, although still ignorant of the fact that his own negligence had caused the disaster, he bent all his energies towards remedying it.

Under the strong arm of the Coromantee, the _Catamaran_ was fast coming round towards the wind,--and so shortening the distance between the swimmer and the craft,--when an object came under the eye of her steersman that caused him to drop the oar as if either his arm had become suddenly paralysed, or the piece of rounded ash grasped between his hands had become transformed into a bar of red-hot iron!

The former it could not be; since paralysed arms could not act, as did those of s...o...b..ll on that instant. On dropping the oar, his right hand was suddenly carried towards his left thigh, where a long knife hung suspended in its sheath. Upon the hilt of this his fingers rested for a moment, evidently not with the intention of drawing it, but apparently to a.s.sure himself that the knife was in its place.

In an instant the hand was withdrawn; but during the action the negro had hastily risen to his feet; and, having already abandoned the oar, he rushed towards the edge of the raft and leaped overboard into the water!

CHAPTER THIRTY.

THE ZYGAENA.

The conduct of the Coromantee in thus relinquishing the rudder and springing overboard into the sea was inexplicable,--at least, to little William it seemed so for the time. What could be s...o...b..ll's object in taking to the water? The sailor's strength was sufficient to sustain both himself and the little girl. He appeared to have no difficulty in holding her above the surface; and as to getting back to the raft, s...o...b..ll was surely doing more service in steering the raft towards them? Had he continued at the rudder a few minutes longer, the _Catamaran_ must have come very near where the swimmer was struggling; where as, on his dropping the oar, she once more luffed round, and began to make way in the opposite direction.

Little William, however, did not observe this sinister circ.u.mstance; or if he did, it was for the moment driven out of his mind by one still more sinister, that just then came under his observation.

Only for a few seconds had he remained watching the negro, and wondering, with unpleasant thoughts, why the latter before leaping overboard had half drawn the knife from his belt and then resheathed it.

Something like a suspicion pa.s.sed through the mind of the youth. What could the negro want with a knife, if his object was to give help to the swimmer? Could a fiendish conception have occurred to the Coromantee, to lessen the number of those who might require food and water?

It is true the suspicion had barely shaped itself in the brain of the boy. Still, it had shaped itself, to be succeeded by a feeling of remorse for the wrong which he had done to s...o...b..ll in entertaining it.

Almost on the instant did he become conscious of this wrong, by an object coming under his eyes and which at once accounted for the conduct of the Coromantee, that had seemed strange. s...o...b..ll was swimming towards Ben Brace,--not to destroy,--but with the intention of saving him.

From what? Was the sailor really in danger of sinking, so as to stand in need of support both for himself and his burden?

Little William did not put such an interrogatory. All his conjectures were ended. The peril threatening his patron,--and little Lalee as well,--was plainly outlined before his eyes, in all its frightful reality. That flattish, dark disc, with lunetted edge, rising erect above the surface, and cutting keenly through the rippling water, was an object not to be mistaken for any moving thing met with amid the ocean, save the dorsal fin of a shark, and William knew at a glance that such in reality it was.

He saw, moreover, it was the same he and little Lalee had so late been contemplating in security,--the dreaded zygaena: for through the translucent water he could distinguish its hammer-shaped head, and lurid eyes gleaming out from their protuberant sockets,--hideous to behold!

The boy now became spectator,--sole spectator,--of a scene of thrilling, even terrible interest. The characters in the drama were s...o...b..ll, the zygaena, and Ben Brace with his burden.

Just as William had arrived at the comprehension of the Coromantee's behaviour, the _dramatis persona_ were placed relatively to each other in a triangular position,--an isosceles triangle, in which s...o...b..ll and the shark represented the angles at the base, while Ben with his charge occupied the apex. The latter point was almost stationary, while both the former were moving towards it in converging lines, fast as shark and man could swim.

The situation was easily explained. The zygaena, hitherto holding its course ahead of the _Catamaran_, had become apprised of the catastrophe occurring among the crew. The plash occasioned by little Lalee as she was flung upon the water, and the heavier concussion of Ben's body as he plunged overboard, had reached the monster's ears; and, with that fell instinct peculiar to its tribe, it had suddenly turned in the water, and commenced swimming toward the wake of the craft; where it knew that anything, whether human or otherwise, falling overboard, must inevitably drift.

While pa.s.sing the _Catamaran_ towards the wake, s...o...b..ll had caught sight of its fan-like fin,--which apprised him of the direction it was taking, at the same time revealing to him its design.

The plunge which s...o...b..ll had made as he sprang out into the water had caused the zygaena to swerve from its course; and for some moments it swam towards _him_, as if determined upon changing the object of its attack; but whether not liking the looks of the Coromantee or frayed by his bold att.i.tude in making directly towards it, it shied back into its former course, and kept on towards the others.

Of course, the sailor, enc.u.mbered as he was by the half-lifeless form of the girl, would stand but little chance of making a successful defence against a shark,--more especially such a monster as the zygaena; and it was the knowledge of this that had summoned s...o...b..ll to the rescue.

Against such an adversary a more capable combatant than the Coromantee could scarce have been found on the waters of the ocean, or even _in_ them. He could swim like a swan, and dive like a sea-duck; nor was it the first time for him to have fought the shark in its own element; neither would it be the first time should he prove conqueror in the combat.

On launching into the lists, his chief dread had not been for himself, but for those he was proceeding to rescue.

In point of time the shark had had the start of him; and, although on parting from the raft the distances each would have to traverse were not very unequal, s...o...b..ll knew that his scaly compet.i.tor far excelled him in the quality of speed.

It was this thought that was causing him anxiety,--amounting almost to anguish,--that caused him to plunge wildly through the water,--to utter loud cries, and make other noisy demonstrations,--with a view of distracting the attention of the zygaena from the victims it had fore-chosen, and drawing its attack upon himself.

His shouts and gesticulations proved equally unavailing. The cunning zygaena took no heed of either; but with its dark dorsal fin, set like a well-bent sail, it kept straight on towards the easier victims.

The sides of the isosceles triangle were gradually growing unequal,-- gradually and slowly, but, alas! surely. Already was it an irregular _scalene_. s...o...b..ll perceived the change,--each moment becoming more perceptible, each moment augmenting his fears.

"Poor lilly Lally!" cried he, in a voice that betrayed his anxiety. "O Ma.s.s' Ben! fo' de lub o' Gorramity, swum to de right,--round dat away, an' let me git 'tween you an de ravenin' beast. To de right!--da's de way. Do yer bess, Ma.s.s' Brace, an' gi' me time get up. I take care o'

de lubber ef I once get im widin reach o' dis chile's arm."

The injunction thus uttered had the desired effect. Up to that time the sailor, sunk low in the water by reason of the extra weight, had not become fully cognisant of the peril of his position. Hitherto his mind had been more occupied with the idea of overtaking the raft, than any danger to be dreaded from sharks. He was not even aware of the zygaena's approach; for the fin, which had betrayed the monster's presence to those on the _Catamaran_,--from being seen _en profile_,-- could not so easily be distinguished when viewed in "front-face." No wonder, therefore, that the victims which the zygaena had selected for its attack remained unconscious of its approach; and it was only on seeing s...o...b..ll spring out from the _Catamaran_, and swim towards him, that the sailor suspected the proximity of a shark. At the same instant, also, he remembered the interrogatory that had been addressed to him by little William, and his own laconic reply designating the individual as a _hammer-head_. From these various circ.u.mstances he could tell that there was a shark bearing down upon him; but in what direction he could not conjecture, until the hurried words of s...o...b..ll admonished him to "make way to de right."

The sailor had too much respect for the experience of the ex-cook to disregard the injunctions thus given; and of hearing them, he at once swerved in the direction indicated, and "made way to de right" as fast as a man could swim with only one hand free for the stroke.

Fortunately for all parties, the one arm proved sufficient. The new direction entered upon by the swimmer soon changed the relative position of all parties. The triangle became resolved into a right line,--the shark at one extremity,--the sailor with his charge at the other,-- s...o...b..ll midway between!

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

FACE TO FACE.

By this change in the position of the parties, the zygaena had lost its advantage. Instead of having for the object of its attack an exhausted swimmer enc.u.mbered with a weight, without a weapon, or even an arm free to wield one, it would now have for its antagonist a strong man,--fresh and vigorous,--armed with a long-bladed knife; one, moreover, who from earliest youth had lived a half-amphibious life, and who was almost as much at home in the water as the shark itself. At all events, the Coromantee could calculate on keeping himself _above_ water for several hours without rest, and _under_ it as long as any other animal whose natural element was the earth or the air.

s...o...b..ll, however, had no intention to go _wider_,--not an inch deeper than he could possibly help: for therein would lie his danger, and he knew it. As we have already said, it was not the first time for him to encounter a shark in its own element; and though, perhaps, not so familial with the _hammer-head_ as with the white shark, he was not altogether unacquainted with the habits and peculiarities of the former species.

He knew that the zygaena, like others of its congeners, in seizing an object, requires to have that object _under_ it; otherwise, it is compelled to turn upon its back or side, just in proportion as the prey it would seize lies high or low in the water. If altogether on the surface, the shark is forced to make a complete roll, belly upward; and this necessity,--arising from the peculiar position of the animal's mouth, and the conformation of its jaws,--is well-known among mariners, and better among true shark-fighters, who use it to their advantage.

Among the pearl-divers of the Vermilion Sea (Gulf of California), the attack of the common shark is but little dreaded. The only weapon used by them is a piece of stick (the _estaca_), sharpened at both ends, and hardened by fire. Provided with this simple weapon, which they carry, stuck through a loop in their leathern belt, they dive without fear among the sharks that frequent the waters of the pearl-oyster fishery.

When attacked by one of these voracious creatures, they wait for the moment when the shark makes its semi-somersault, and opens its cavernous mouth. Then, with an adroitness drawn from practice, and a fearlessness which only great confidence can give, they thrust the _estaca_, gag-fashion, between the creature's jaws, leaving it no alternative but to retreat with its jaws wide open, or to close them to its own certain destruction. Among these pearl-fisheries, however, a species of shark occasionally shows itself that cannot be destroyed in such a simple fashion. It is known as the _tintorera_, and is as much dreaded by the pearl-divers as the common shark is by the ordinary mariner.

Fierce as is the zygaena and dreaded above all others of its tribe,-- half the dread no doubt is attributable to its hideous configuration.

s...o...b..ll knew that before it could injure him, it must make the half-turn, and, therefore, approached it with the determination to keep well upon the surface of the water, and not let it get above him.

The conflict was now inevitable: for the shark, although apparently a little put about by the transposition that had taken place, had determined upon having a meal of human flesh. Its white victims had escaped it for the time, but it was not particular as to the colour of the skin, and s...o...b..ll might be as sweet to its palate as Ben Brace or Lilly Lalee.

We are not going to a.s.sert that it reasoned after this fashion, or that any thoughts whatever pa.s.sed through its huge mallet-shaped skull.

Indeed, there was not much time for reflection: for as s...o...b..ll interposed his body between the zygaena and its intended victims, the woolly head of the Coromantee and the hammer-head of the shark were scarcely three lengths of a handspike from each other.

It was a fearful situation for a human being to be in; and any other than an old shark-fighter would, at such a moment, have succ.u.mbed from sheer terror.

Not so s...o...b..ll, who appeared to enter the lists with as little dread and as much confidence as if his _fetisch_ had given him full a.s.surance of victory.