The Pirate Shark

is what they call him,

then laughed. "Thirty-footer? You're tangled

nto ejaculating the title of the Pirate Shark, which called for further explanations. Thus, without having broken their promise, the boys apprised the captain of

Now, I tell you he ain't here for any good, him and the rest o' his gang! Shark Smith, they call him-don't you growl at me, you white-haired old hypocr

up at him suddenly; but the look was fleeting, and the next instant the quar

hat there Pirate Shark was here, an' I wanted to kill him myself, so to speak. But I've played square

f you please. Jerry will have to rank as second officer, and take the port watch for the rest

y's march away, it seemed, and the chiefs were delighted that Captain Hollinger was so willing and ready

rted that two or three of the natives could speak a little English, and that all were anxious to put themselves at his disp

ow you were going tiger hunting too, lads. I've

them into that jungle till I've had a look at it, Jerry. That's final. Hold

nd conferred with Bob on the subject, but it seemed that Jerry was only in haste to get at his Pirate

m. Mart looked on it as a huge joke by this time, and Bob was evidently inclined to the same way of thinking. Jerry was evidently quite confident, however, that there was gold in the river, as h

Captain Hollinger and Swanson dressed in khaki, with sun helmets and leggings, and at the last moment one of the Scotch engineers volunteered to accompany them.

the impedimenta of the party was light. Canteens and cartridge belts were donned, medicine cases, mosquito nets, binoculars and blankets stowed away, and the three men shook hands with t

ut flashed the long Malay sweeps, and with final shouts ringing over the water, the prau swiftly moved off toward the river mouth. Mart and Bob watched the three stalwart khaki-clad figures standing erect am

remaining. By this time the old quartermaster had openly announced his intention of getting aft

mind that wreck, lads, eight fathom down? Rock bottom it is, coral rock, down there among the fish. When we lay over her, all shipshape an'

'ly Bob's bullet through his fin sent him o

h engineer, who was no little astonished at the program, of which he had known nothing. "Now, sir, I'll thank you to get the fires up

ked Bob, while the dazed engineer

'll lay her over the wreck-eight fathoms down, and old Jerry the only man as knows. Fish tell no tale

charge of the steam steering gear himself. As they could not get under way for some time, he set Birch to work with a few Kanakas breaking out

gone bad. After Jerry had identified the case containing the dynamite, he ordered the Kanakas to fling the bad beef overboard, and started back to the bridge.

ck not being sufficient to explode it. When Jerry comprehended what had happened, however, he was changed instantly from a mild, gentle-appearing ol

blow; not until Dailey and Birch flung themselves on him was he quieted. Then he once more became hims

nting on that dynamite to blow up the Pirate Shark, Mart. Just the s

mself. Calling down the tube, he found that the engineer had enough steam up to give the Seamew s

ed for a quarter-mile farther, in a rounded bay where little rock-points showed their jagged teeth. As they advanced, the water became deepe

we're over that there w

ully clear, but as it was forty feet deep here, they could make out nothing of the bottom. Just under their ladder and gan

he said. "And if that there ain't the old w

You aren't going to send down any men there, Jerry,

didn't they?" snarled Jerry suddenly

art. "You needn't think we'll

afraid o' sharks. They take knives down an' kill sharks for fun, like your father kills tigers. Then they swim like fi

telling him about this Pirate Shark till we'd got here, and you haven't told him about the wreck yet. All I can say is, you'd better play square, Je

gazed out at the sparkl

Jerry ain't that kind, lads-no, he likes ye both too much for that. Look here, Master Bob, we'll not send down any men but t

at Mart, who

n't think he's around here, myself; but in case that bullet didn't send him out to sea with a hole in his fin, and if he really is the Pirate Shark, we'

erry merely darted them a

e in the mornin', lads. Eight fathom

y as he appeared. The sight of that immense black fin had established the fact that there was at

its being an ancient galleon, however, was much too improbable to be accepted. However, the diving

t now," remarked Bob as the boys made ready to turn in. "

hose oysters this morning! I haven't felt right

remonitions, he ascrib