The Rushton Boys at Treasure Cove Part 20

"No one of them knows but that he may be the next," added Bill.

"The sailors get even whenever they have the chance," chimed in Lester.

"The minute they see any of the beasts near the ship, they trail a hook over the stern in the hope of catching him. Sailors are superst.i.tious, and they believe that as long as a shark is in sight some one on board is doomed to die. So they try to kill the hoodoo, by putting the shark out of business."

"It's a great thing to feel a good deck beneath your feet, when a shark heaves in sight," remarked Bill. "Even in a boat no bigger than the _Ariel_, we're reasonably safe. But think of what it must be like to be on an open raft on the ocean with a crowd of these hungry pirates swimming all around you."

"And flinging themselves half way across the raft sometimes, trying to upset it," added Teddy.

"It must be something fearful," agreed Lester. "But there are some people who are not afraid to meet the shark on its own ground--if one can call water ground."

"It must take a lot of nerve," declared Teddy. "I don't want to take their job away from them."

"Of course it takes a lot of nerve," was the answer. "It takes a heap of skill too. No one could do it, if he couldn't swim just about as well as the shark himself.

"Dad has told me of what he has seen with his own eyes. A native of some of the South Sea Islands, when he learns from a fisherman that a shark is cruising around, will take his knife between his teeth, slip into the water and swim out to meet him.

"As the shark is looking for him too and can smell him, it isn't long before they come together. The native knows when the shark is coming by the fin that shows above the surface, and when the shark gets close the native dives under.

"Of course you know that the shark has to turn over on his back in order to bite. The second it takes to do this has saved the life of many a poor fellow, and it is that that gives the diver his chance.

"The instant the shark turns over, the native plunges his knife into its stomach. He knows just where to aim, and that one stroke usually does the business. If not, he tries it again until the shark is killed. But everything has to be timed to a second. The least little slip, and it's all up with the native."

"I should think there'd sometimes be a chance of meeting a school of sharks instead of a single one," commented Bill. "What would the native do in that case?"

"That does happen sometimes, but it doesn't worry the South Sea Islander much," explained Lester. "He can usually keep the sharks off by shouting and splashing. Then, too, if he kills one of them the others are attracted by the blood of their comrade, and they tear him to pieces, while the native swims back home."

"Nice lot of cannibals those sharks are, to prey upon each other," said Teddy.

"Just like a pack of wolves," agreed Lester. "Let one of them be wounded, and the others tear him into bits. These wolves of the sea do the same thing.

"Dad says that sometimes the native won't even take a knife, but will just carry with him a stick of hard wood, sharpened at both ends. When the shark turns over to nab him, the native thrusts the stick crosswise between the open jaws. They close down on it, the points sink in so far that the shark can't shut its mouth, and the water flows in and chokes it to death."

"Seems funny to choke a fish to death with water," laughed Fred.

"Think of thrusting your arm into jaws like that," said Bill. "If the stick didn't go straight up and down----?"

"There'd be a one-armed native," Lester grimly completed the sentence.

"But here's a boat coming up this way, and we've been so busy chinning that we hadn't noticed it. What do you make her out to be, Bill?"

"She hasn't any sail," p.r.o.nounced Bill after a brief scrutiny. "Here, hand me those gla.s.ses."

"It's a motor boat," he announced a moment later, "and she's coming straight for us."

"A motor boat!" exclaimed Teddy. "Do you think it can be Ross?"

"It's more than likely," answered Lester. "But he'll be near enough in a few minutes for us to make sure."

The boat drew rapidly nearer.

"That's who it is," cried Teddy jubilantly. "It's Ross and the _Sleuth_. Now we can compare notes about the chest of gold!"

CHAPTER XVIII

TOWING THE PRIZE

The boys forgot all about the shark for the time, and their thoughts went with redoubled intensity toward the object of their search, the missing treasure.

"I wonder if he'll be in a more talkative humor now than he was when we saw him last?" mused Fred.

"I hope so," said Teddy. "He's had time to think us over and size us up, and he may decide to make a clean breast of all he knows."

"a.s.suming that he really does know more than he has told us," remarked Bill, the skeptic. "We fellows may have drawn wrong conclusions from the start he gave and that exception of his."

"Well, at any rate, we know a great deal more than we did when we saw him last," declared Teddy. "We know for a certainty many things that he only guessed, especially that partial confession of d.i.c.k's as to the way Mr. Montgomery met his death."

"I wish we had had time to hear from Uncle Aaron," said Fred. "He may be able to give us some pointers, though I don't suppose he knows much outside of the fact that he loaned Mr. Montgomery money and didn't get it back."

"I'm banking a good deal more on Mark Taylor than I am on what your uncle may know," said Lester, "although of course we may get nothing from either."

"What do you think we'd better do in regard to Ross?" asked Teddy. "Tell him right off what we know, or wait for him to tell us everything first?"

"I think that instead of trying to wait or to swap, we'd better be perfectly frank," advised Fred. "If he's a bit suspicious now, he'll grow more so if he thinks we're trying any kind of a game. Confidence breeds confidence, and we'll set him the example."

"I guess that will be the better way," acquiesced Lester. "After all, he's got so much more at stake than we have in this matter that we shouldn't blame him for being a little cautious."

By this time it was evident that Ross had recognized them, for he was standing up, waving at them vigorously.

"Seems to be glad to see us," remarked Teddy, as the boys waved back. "I take that as a good sign."

"h.e.l.lo Ross," they yelled over the water when he got within earshot.

"h.e.l.lo, yourselves," the boy in the motor boat shouted eagerly in reply.

"What good wind blew you up to meet me?"

"What good engine drove you down to meet us?" Teddy flung back at him with a grin.

"I was on my way down to pay you a little visit at the Shoals," replied Ross. "I didn't think I'd be able to get over there so soon. But when I got back to Oakland I found a letter from my mother saying she had been delayed in starting, and wouldn't be here for three or four days yet. So I thought I'd scoot over and make hay while the sun shone."

"That'll be bully," said Lester warmly. "Dad will be glad to see you, and I hope you'll be able to stay with us at the Shoals until you have to meet your mother."

"I'd like nothing better and it's good of you to ask me," responded Ross. "But where are you fellows bound for now?"

"We're going up to Milton on an errand that will interest you, when we get time to tell you about it. Come right along with us."