CHAPTER XVII
A PLEASANT SURPRISE
The other boys roared, and for a moment Teddy was disconcerted. But hequickly recovered his balance.
"I suppose," he retorted, frowning severely at the culprit, "that thislow-brow means to intimate that I am a Spanish athlete. I should bedeeply pained to know that any one who has been under the refininginfluence of Rally Hall should indulge in the practice of slang. Whatwould our dear Doctor Rally say if he heard one of his pupils----"
But the question remained forever unanswered, for just then a piece ofpork that Bill had picked up from the deck whizzed past the orator'sface, and, in the quick and undignified duck he made, Teddy lost thethread of his discourse.
"Suppose you two cut out the fooling and get down to business," grinnedLester. "Fred and I are the only ones doing anything, and it's time youloafers got busy. Bring out the grub and let's have something to eat."
"That's always in order, like a motion to adjourn," acquiesced Teddy."Come along, Bill, and we'll show these fellows how to cook."
Teddy and Bill went down into the little cuddy, got out the tiny oilstove, and the odors of sizzling bacon and steaming coffee soon madeLester and Fred sniff the air hungrily.
"I didn't know how hungry I was till just now," said the latter.
"I didn't either," returned Lester. "I was so worked up over that tusslewith the shark that I didn't have time to think of anything else. Butnow I'm hungry enough to eat nails."
"If that's the way you refer to the meal we're getting up, you can'thave any," threatened Teddy. "We may not be hotel chefs, but we'll notstand for having our eats compared to nails, will we, Bill?"
"Not by a jugful!" answered Bill, as he scrambled some eggs in the bacongrease.
"Take it all back," laughed Lester.
Teddy cut some slices of bread and Bill opened a jar of marmalade, whichthey put with the other eatables on the tiny table leaves that theypropped up on both sides of the centerboard.
"Come along now, you aristocrats," called out Teddy, "and profit by thelabor of us poor working men."
The wind was steady, so that Lester could fasten his tiller while Fredhitched the sail rope round a cleat. Then they crowded into the littlecabin and passed judgment on the dinner. That it was a favorable one wasshown by the magical rapidity with which every crumb disappeared.
"No dyspeptics in this crowd," laughed Fred, when the board had beenswept clean.
"Not so that you could notice it," returned Bill. "A doctor would starveto death if he had to depend on our patronage."
"My belt is so tight that it hurts," admitted Teddy, loosening it a fewholes.
They lay around lazily for a few minutes, too happy and satisfied tomove. Then Fred and Lester resumed their places, while the other twodrew a bucket of water and washed the dishes and pans. This done, theyslumped down comfortably in the stern, watching the body of the sharkthat lunged along clumsily in the wake of the _Ariel_.
"He has an open countenance, hasn't he?" grinned Teddy, as they caughtan occasional glimpse of the huge mouth on the under side of the head.
"And look at those teeth," shivered Bill. "They say that an alligator'sjaw snaps shut with the power of fifteen hundred pounds. But I'll betthat the alligator has nothing on the shark."
"I guess you're right," agreed Teddy. "Those jaws would cut a man's legoff as neatly as if it were done with a razor."
"I shouldn't like to have him practise on me," said Bill.
"If that fellow ever had a toothache, it would be some ache," put inFred.
"I wouldn't care to be the dentist that had the job of pulling one ofthem," laughed Bill. "I'm afraid the patient would be a little peevish."
"I'd get my assistant to pump a ton of chloroform in him first,"declared Fred. "And even then I'd want to get into a suit of armorbefore I operated on him."
"No wonder the sailors hate the brutes," mused Teddy, as he thought ofthe poor fellows who had been devoured by the monsters.
"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 hookover the stern in the hope of catching him. Sailors are superstitious,and they believe that as long as a shark is in sight some one on boardis doomed to die. So they try to kill the hoodoo, by putting the sharkout of business."
"It's a great thing to feel a good deck beneath your feet, when a sharkheaves in sight," remarked Bill. "Even in a boat no bigger than the_Ariel_, we're reasonably safe. But think of what it must be liketo be on an open raft on the ocean with a crowd of these hungry piratesswimming all around you."
"And flinging themselves half way across the raft sometimes, trying toupset it," added Teddy.
"It must be something fearful," agreed Lester. "But there are somepeople who are not afraid to meet the shark on its own ground--if onecan call water ground."
"It must take a lot of nerve," declared Teddy. "I don't want to taketheir job away from them."
"Of course it takes a lot of nerve," was the answer. "It takes a heap ofskill too. No one could do it, if he couldn't swim just about as well asthe shark himself.
"Dad has told me of what he has seen with his own eyes. A native of someof the South Sea Islands, when he learns from a fisherman that a sharkis cruising around, will take his knife between his teeth, slip into thewater and swim out to meet him.
"As the shark is looking for him too and can smell him, it isn't longbefore they come together. The native knows when the shark is coming bythe fin that shows above the surface, and when the shark gets close thenative dives under.
"Of course you know that the shark has to turn over on his back in orderto bite. The second it takes to do this has saved the life of many apoor fellow, and it is that that gives the diver his chance.
"The instant the shark turns over, the native plunges his knife into itsstomach. He knows just where to aim, and that one stroke usually doesthe business. If not, he tries it again until the shark is killed. Buteverything has to be timed to a second. The least little slip, and it'sall up with the native."
"I should think there'd sometimes be a chance of meeting a school ofsharks instead of a single one," commented Bill. "What would the nativedo in that case?"
"That does happen sometimes, but it doesn't worry the South Sea Islandermuch," explained Lester. "He can usually keep the sharks off by shoutingand splashing. Then, too, if he kills one of them the others areattracted 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," saidTeddy.
"Just like a pack of wolves," agreed Lester. "Let one of them bewounded, and the others tear him into bits. These wolves of the sea dothe same thing.
"Dad says that sometimes the native won't even take a knife, but willjust carry with him a stick of hard wood, sharpened at both ends. Whenthe shark turns over to nab him, the native thrusts the stick crosswisebetween the open jaws. They close down on it, the points sink in so farthat the shark can't shut its mouth, and the water flows in and chokesit 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 thestick 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 chinningthat we hadn't noticed it. What do you make her out to be, Bill?"
"She hasn't any sail," pronounced Bill after a brief scrutiny. "Here,hand me those glasses."
"It's a motor boat," he announced a moment later, "and she's comingstraight 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 afew minutes for us to make sure."
The boat drew rapidly nearer.
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"That's who it is," cried Teddy jubilantly. "It's Ross and the_Sleuth_. Now we can compare notes about the chest of gold!"