CHAPTER XI.
Foiling the Sharks.
SLOWLY the tide crept in upon the spit, and the strip of sand grewnarrower. Those grimly patrolling black fins drew nearer and nearer asthe bar became smaller. The gusts of wind grew more and more capricious,sometimes seeming as if they would actually swing the _Dido_ over to therescue of the despairing prisoners; but this they refrained from doing.
“She’ll swing over to us yet,” asserted Reube, confidently. “She isn’tgoing to desert us in such a horrible scrape as this!”
But Will made no reply. He was studying his tactics for the strugglewhich he felt was now close at hand.
“You’d better give that stake, or picket, or whatever it is, to me,Reube,” he suggested. “You’ll have enough to do just swimming. I, beingperfectly at home in the water, will be able to make the best use of it,don’t you think? If I can manage to give each of those brutes a solidjab in the belly, maybe they’ll get sick of their undertaking anddepart.”
“All right,” agreed Reube, though with some reluctance. And he handedover the sharp stick.
“You’ll have to fight for yourself and me too, that’s all,” hecontinued.
“I’ll make a fight anyway,” said Will. “And I dare say I can drive themboth off. In these well-stocked waters they can’t be very hungry or veryfierce.”
At last the strip of sand was not more than three or four feet wide andsix inches above water. But though so narrow it was more than a hundredyards in length, extending like a sort of backbone up the entrance tothe creek. About the middle it looked a foot or two broader than wherethe captives were standing.
“Come up there where it is wider,” said Reube.
As they went those black fins kept scrupulously abreast of them, andthey shuddered at the sight.
At this point the opposite shore of the creek jutted out somewhatsharply toward the sand spit. Will cast his eye across the narrowchannel.
“What fools we are all this time!” he cried. “Why, we can easily swimacross to land on this side before the sharks can get all the way aroundthe shoal.”
“Can we?” inquired Reube, doubtfully.
“Yes,” said Will, “and the sooner the better. But now look, Reube; keepcool. Don’t try to hurry too much. Take the long, slow strokes. Andremember, I’ll keep behind, and, if the brutes do get around too quickI’ll keep them busy a minute or two, never fear. Then you can come to myrescue with one of those fence stakes yonder. Come on, now!” And side byside they slipped swiftly into the water.
With long, powerful strokes they sped across the narrow channel thatdivided them from safety. Will, swimming at much less than his fullspeed, dropped almost a yard behind as soon as they were fairly started,and swam on his side so as to command a view of the water behind. Thenarrow ridge of yet uncovered sand, however, prevented him from seeingwhat took place when he and Reube slipped noiselessly, as they thought,into the water. Those black fins had turned on the instant, and weredarting with terrific speed for the lower end of the sand spit.
“I think we’ll make it,” he said to himself.]
By the time our swimmers were fairly half way across, or perhaps a shadebetter, Will saw the fins come round the foot of the sand spit.
“I think we’ll make it,” he said to himself, measuring the distance withcool eye. But he refrained from telling Reube what he saw. A momentlater, however, as he marked the terrible speed of the approachingperil, he could not help saying, in a voice which he kept quite steadyand casual:
“You’re doing finely, Reube. Don’t hurry your stroke, but put a littlemore power in it for a spurt and we’re safe.”
Reube wasted no breath for a reply. He knew this adjuration of Will’smeant that the danger was drawing very near; but his companion’s anxietyas to his nerves was quite unneeded. He struck out as steadily as ever,but with all the force which his muscle and his will power togethercould create, and went ahead so fast that Will had to really swim tokeep up with him. In half a minute more—to them it seemed a longtime—Reube struck bottom in shallow water and dragged himself to land.The sharks were now so near that for an instant Will hesitated. Would hehave time to get out, or must he turn and defend his legs? But hisdecision was instantaneous. With a mighty thrust of his legs and onefree arm he flung himself forward, felt the mud beneath his hands,jerked his feet under him, and stood up just in time to turn and dealthe nearest shark a desperate blow with the pointed stake as it halfturned over to seize him. Astonished and daunted, the great fishrecoiled, and before its fellow could join in the attack Will had sprungout of reach.
“It’s a blessed thing,” said Will, “to get ashore with a whole leg,isn’t it?”
His light manner was but the froth on the surface of his deeperemotions. He was trembling from the long strain and sternself-repression.
Reube drew a deep, slow breath.
“Verily,” said he, with a grave face, “that was pretty nearly as bad asthe cave while it lasted!”
“O, surely not,” objected Will. “We had the free air and sun, and achance to fight for our lives. But it makes me mad to think what foolswe were in the first place.”
“How so?” asked Reube.
“Why,” answered Will, “if we’d come, this way on the first arrival ofthose beastly leviathans we would not have had half so far to swim, andour pursuers would have had nearly twice as far to go. It would have allbeen as simple and easy as falling off a log, and our hearts wouldn’t begoing like trip hammers now, the way they are.”
“That’s so,” agreed Reube, in a tone of disgust. “But now I’m wonderingwhat other scrapes we can manage to get into between here and home. Inever realized till now the truth of the proverb—generally I despiseproverbs—which says ‘It never rains but it pours!’ It seems to me Ihave been at steady high pressure the last few days, and lived more andfelt more than in all the rest of my life put together.”
“My idea is that fate’ll let us alone for a while now,” remarked Will,with the air of a philosopher. “The law of probabilities is all againstany further excitement on this trip.”
“So be it!” said Reube. “But let’s get to the _Dido_—and our clothes!”
Trotting up the lonely shore of the creek for half a mile, they came toan _aboideau_, and crossed to the other shore of the stream. Followingdown the bank, they soon came opposite the _Dido_. The sharks werenowhere to be seen, and the _Dido_ presently swung so near that a shortplunge put them safely on board. Dressing hastily, they got up theanchor and sailed out of the creek with their bowsprit pointinghomeward. As they did so the sharks appeared again, pursuing them. Willtied a piece of pork to a dry block, tossed it overboard, and snatchedup his rifle. The bait floated a moment unmolested, then the nearestshark, darting upon it, turned over and engulfed it in his murderousmouth. At the same moment Will fired. The ball, with deadly precision,entered the brute’s mouth and pierced its brain. With a convulsiveflurry it rolled over stone dead.