It was very beautiful and wonderfully attractive. On board the ship there were hard work, hard living, peremptory orders, and what seemed to the proud boy a state of slavery, while on sh.o.r.e offered itself a life of ease where there would be no battling with storm, and risk of war or shipwreck.
Why should he not take advantage of this or some other opportunity, and steal ash.o.r.e?
It would be desertion, and setting aside the punishment held out to the one who forsook his ship after being forced into His Majesty"s navy, there was a feeling troubling Don that it would be dishonourable to go.
On the other side there was home, the strong desire to be free, and a love of adventure prompting him to escape.
"No," he said decidedly at last; "it would be cowardly and base to desert. They treat me badly, but not hardly enough to make me run away.
I"ll stop and bear it like a man."
Somehow Don felt lighter in heart after coming to this determination; and after looking round and wondering how long the explorers would be before they returned, and also wishing he could have been of the party, he leaned his elbows on the side of the boat and gazed down into the clear water, and through it at the beautiful lace-like pattern made by the sun, casting the netted shadow of the ripples on the soft pebbly sand.
Now and then a shoal of fish glided in and dashed away. Then one brilliantly decked in gold and silver and blue came floating by, and Don watched it eagerly, wishing the while that he had a line.
He was leaning over the side in this way, gazing down at the water, now about four feet deep where the boat had swung, when he became aware of something pale and shadowy some little distance off. Looking at it in a sloping direction made the ocean water seem so dense that he could not make out what it was for some little time. At first it seemed to be a dimly-seen patch of seaweed; then it appeared to be too regular and rounded, and it struck him that it must be a large transparent jelly-fish floating in with the tide, till he made out that it was continued backward from him, and that it was larger than he had imagined; and as he looked the object gradually grew plainer and more distinct. It was still shadowy and grey, and had a peculiar, strange attraction, which made him lean more over the side till a curious nightmare-like sensation came over him, and as he realised that the object was alive, and that he was looking down at two strange dull eyes, he felt that he could not shrink back, although the creeping chilly feeling which came over him seemed like a warning of danger.
Then it all appeared more like a dream, in which he was striving hard to get away, and all the time obliged to crouch there gazing at that creature whose eyes were fixed upon him, and which imperceptibly grew plainer to his sight.
The intensity of the position grew more and more painful during what appeared to be a long time. He tried to call to Jem, who was asleep not six feet away, but his mouth felt dry. He endeavoured to reach out and kick him, but he could not stir, and still the creature advanced till, all at once, there was a tremendous disturbance in the water; something seemed to rise and strike him a violent blow in the chest, and the next moment he was seated in the bottom of the boat, which was rocking violently, and staring stupidly at Jem, who sat up staring back.
"What yer do that for?" cried Jem angrily. "I"d only just closed my eyes."
"I did not do anything," faltered Don, shivering.
"Yes, you did!" cried Jem. "Asked me to sit up and watch, and I"d ha"
done it. Needn"t ha" played tricks."
"I--I--"
"There, don"t say you didn"t, Mas" Don. Boat"s rocking now, and you"d better swab up that water. Nice row there"d be if the skipper come back and found the boat all wet."
Jem picked up the swab and began to remove the water himself, and in doing so he noticed Don"s face.
"Why, hullo, Mas" Don! What"s the matter? You look as white as--Why, what now?"
Jem was about to lean over the side and wring the swab, when Don sprang astern and dragged him back.
"Look! Look!" he cried, pointing.
Jem followed the direction of the pointing finger, and shrank away with a shudder.
"What? A shark!" he exclaimed.
"Yes; it rose at me out of the water, and struck me in the chest, and I fell back, and so did he."
"Ugh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Jem, as he seized the boathook, and rested it on the gunwale.
"Don"t touch, it," whispered Don; "it may spring out of the water at you."
"It had better not," said Jem. "Hah!"
He drove the boathook down with all his might, striking the great fish just as it was slowly rising toward the surface, close to the boat; and so well aimed was the stroke, that there was a tremendous swirl in the water, the side near Jem resounded with a heavy blow from the fish"s tail, and the boathook seemed to be s.n.a.t.c.hed out of the striker"s hand to go slowly sailing away oceanward.
"Look at that!" cried Jem. "Why, I must have driven it right into him.
How are we to get it back?"
"Watch it," said Don, excitedly. "It will come out and float directly."
Don"s prophecy did not come to pa.s.s, for as they watched, they saw about a foot of the boathook shaft stand sloping out of the water, and go here and there in a curious manner.
"Let"s row after it," suggested Don.
"Wouldn"t be no good, Mas" Don; and we"ve got nothing to fight him with but pistols. Let him be, and the thing will soon wriggle out."
Jem proved as far wrong as his companion, for, after a time, as they watched and saw the end of the shaft bob here and there; it suddenly disappeared about fifty yards away.
"Why, Mas" Don," said Jem, laughing, "it"s like fishing; and after biting ever so long, the float"s gone right under water. Now"s your time. Strike!"
"And we"ve no line," said Don, who was beginning to get rid of his nervous sensation.
"No, we haven"t a line," said Jem. "Keep your eye on the place where he went down; we mustn"t lose that hitcher. Say, it won"t do to try and swim ash.o.r.e. That"s a shark, that is, and a big one, too. Did he hurt you?"
"Not much. It was like a tremendous blow with somebody"s fist. Look!"
"Told you so!" cried Jem. "Here he comes with a rush to give us back the boathook."
"Or to attack the boat," said Don, as the end of the shaft suddenly appeared away to their right; and then came rapidly nearer in a direct line for where they were.
"Not he," said Jem st.u.r.dily. "Too stupid."
All the same, there was soon a peculiar rising in the water coming direct for them, as the boathook seemed to plough through the sea, which rapidly grew shallower. Onward it came, nearer and nearer, till Jem gave a warning shout, and placed one foot on the side ready to plunge overboard.
"Don"t do that, Jem; it"s certain death!" cried Don.
"Don"t you stop, Mas" Don; that"s certain death, too. Let"s swim ash.o.r.e. Now, my lad, now, now. Don"t stop a fellow; don"t!"
Jem shouted these words excitedly, as Don clung to him and held him back, gazing wildly all the time at the disturbed water, as the great fish swiftly approached, till, just as it was within a few yards, the shallowness of the water seemed to startle it, making it give quite a bound showing half its length, and then diving down with a kind of wallow, after which the occupants of the boat saw the wooden pole go trailing along the surface, till once more it was s.n.a.t.c.hed, as it were, out of sight.
"Don"t seem as if he"s going to shake it out," said Jem.
"You must have driven the spike in right over the hook, and it acts like a barb. What a blow you must have given!"
"Well, I hit as hard as I could," said Jem. "He was coming at me. Can you see it now?"
"No."
"Keep a sharp look-out; it"s sure to come up sometime."
The sharp look-out was kept; but they did not see the boathook again, though they watched patiently till nearly sundown, when a hail came from the woods; and as the boat-keepers got up the grapnel and ran the light vessel in sh.o.r.e, the captain and his men appeared slowly to their left, and came down as if utterly wearied out.