The Pirate Shark

they started to do so, the men grinned and stopped them. Yorke, with his twisted mouth leer

blazes. Then if ye go wadin' around ye'll get poisoned wi' coral, or ye'll step on little crabs ye can't see, but they'll get under your sk

king, but a glance at old Borden sh

e Jerry in his ways. "Yorke's tellin' ye true, lads. Things ain't so

rest. The boys had desisted from their object,

a-goin' to hunt tigers wi' the cap'n?" At the

ejoined B

he looks and the question. "We're goin' to see the d

ance exchanged among the men. He wondered idly what they were thinking of, but they were clo

their own account, while the two boys, arranging to be back in an hour or so, started across to the seaward side. The brief ride in the hot sun had quite cured Bob of his romantic noti

d delight of the boys was unrestrained. They were in a new world. Even the trees were crimson, there was no lack of wonderful but il

es. Then, in a little bay of the shore, Mart stumbled on a starfish, deep red, with rich

re gorgeous hues-while more complex shells whose names the boys could not guess lay strewn about indiscriminately with f

f mingled coral and sand exposed by the low tide, and perhaps fifty yards distant were two birds-curlews-running toward the boys with nervous, jerky motions. They were furtively picking up crabs, and Mart quickly set up his camera

art. "I got 'em anyhow!

the sand as the boys approached. Try as they would they could not catc

?" exclaimed Mart, while they

returned

there where th

and Bob gained his feet instantly. The water inside the reef was only a few inches deep, and

would dry again in five minutes of walking in the blistering sand, and when they finally stood on the co

ubtfully at the tightly-closed gray-gr

ed Bob, pulling out h

of that time he gazed disgustedly at his hacked knife blade and g

inging up. "We'll eat a couple, t

uence of its heat they got two or three of the oysters open. Each

right to me,"

ate any like that in

ry much to inspect a scarlet-leaved tree a short distance back in the bush. Mart saw another tree that he wanted to look at, and

aining his feet after a little. Picking up the offending mollusc

ng'll do me for quite a spell. By juniper

e we hit for the boat. I've had enough o' this, by golly! It's

st attractive-looking fruits, and berry-laden bushes, but beyond pausing once or twice to consume a few feet

as they looked about for the boat, it appeared a few hundred yards to their left. Dailey was lying asleep in its shadow, and out in the lagoon itself the

t up at their approach. The leathery-faced seaman

at way, sir. Ain'

ed Mart. Bob agreed at once, and all three

nd they slowly rowed up toward the far end of the island, where w

ep or more. Sponges, marine fans, fish, coral, and all the under-water life lay open to them, in colors more gorgeous and magnificent than either boy had ever dreamed of. Bob decl

both o' you! Wha

water in their direction, was a black triangle that seemed part of some machine, so evenly and steadily did it move along.

or the rifle. Bob stooped for it at the same instant, but Mart was to

Pirate Shark?" queried the seaman hoa

," he returned sharply

pped him. "It'll simply glance off the water

nly pale. "It's the Pirate Shark, all right-don't you fire on hi

mpatiently. "He's a shark, and a big one; pirate or not, if I

are him off. Hit the fin, Mart-don't waste time tryin' to make

ng as if to proceed across their bows. It would be futile to attempt shooting the shark at s

ter, made sure of his bead, and fired. He saw the fin flutter wildly, then there was a great swir

ob. "There are

he sat down, for he knew that Swanson and the captain would be watching. But the greatest thought in his mind was

ed. As they approached, the three seamen splashed out and piled aboard, Mart taking his

answered Dailey. "We put

cry broke from the othe

dson do

o laughed at the amazement of the men

fired on the Pirate Shark, lad? The

eried Bob, leaning

r all his twisted mouth. "It's mortal bad luck! If you'd put a bullet in

pped Birch. "Give way, ev

that all bans were now off, and they could tell Captain Hollinger about the Pirate Shark whenever they chose. Jerry was no doubt aboard the native boat now a