The Ocean Waifs Part 16

Little William, standing upon the stern of the _Catamaran_ with suspended breath, noting every turn of the spectacle, could see s...o...b..ll drawing the knife from his belt. Not for long, however, did he hold it clutched in his hand. For greater convenience, and to give his hands free play, while evading the attacks of his finny antagonist, he transferred the knife to his mouth, where it was seen set transversely across his cheeks, the blade tightly held between his teeth. In this strange fas.h.i.+on did s...o...b..ll meet his enemy,--the truculent tyrant of the deep.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

A RING PERFORMANCE.

It might be supposed that the shark would have rushed instantaneously upon its antagonist, regardless of aught save making a meal of him. But no, the zygaena, notwithstanding its great voracity, like the rest of its tribe, is endowed with certain instincts of caution. The sea-tiger, as well as that of the land, can tell instinctively whether the object of its attack is likely to become an easy prey, or turn out a dangerous adversary.

Some such--shall we call it an idea?--seemed to enter the unshapely skull of the hammer-head,--suggested no doubt by the bold att.i.tude which s...o...b..ll had a.s.sumed. In all likelihood, had the negro been making away, instead of swimming towards it, and showing signs of a desire to escape, its onset would have been made on the instant.

As it was, the shark saw itself _vis-a-vis_ to an adversary nearly as large as itself and quite as courageous; and it is possible also that its pilot-fish,--a brace of which had advanced close to s...o...b..ll's snout, and after submitting his dusky carca.s.s to a brief examination returned to their master,--it is just possible that these emissaries had reported to their patron, that the game he was in pursuit of must be approached with caution.

At all events something had been communicated that produced a sudden change in the tactics of the zygaena. Instead of rus.h.i.+ng recklessly on to the attack,--or even keeping up the swimming pace by which it had hitherto been making its approach,--on arriving within some half-score fathoms of s...o...b..ll's face, it gradually slackened speed, until its brown, fan-like fins, gently oscillating along its sides seemed no longer to propel its body through the water.

Moreover, on drawing nearer, it swerved slightly from its course,--as if with the design either of attacking its adversary in the rear, or pa.s.sing him altogether!

Strange enough, the two parasites appeared to direct this movement: for both kept swimming alongside the zygaena, one of them opposite each of its huge eyeb.a.l.l.s.

The negro seemed slightly perplexed by this unexpected manoeuvre. He had antic.i.p.ated an instantaneous attack, and had made every preparation to receive and repel it. He had even taken the knife from his teeth, and was holding it tightly clutched in his right hand, ready to deal his deadly blow.

The shyness of the shark produced a disappointment.

Something besides: for it now occurred to s...o...b..ll that the cunning zygaena was trying to pa.s.s him, with the design of making a _razzia_ towards the helpless party in his rear.

The moment this suspicion arose to him he turned short in the water, and struck out in a direction that would enable him to head the shark, and, if possible, intercept it.

Whether the creature intended to pursue his original plan of attacking the sailor and his charge, or whether he was manoeuvring to _turn_ the Coromantee, it mattered not. In either case s...o...b..ll was pursuing the correct strategy. He knew that if his supple antagonist could once get round to his rear, his chances of safety for himself or the others would be sadly diminished. Should the zygaena once get past him and continue on towards the sailor, swift swimmer as s...o...b..ll was, he could have no chance of overtaking a fish.

At this crisis a thought occurred to him which promised to avert the calamity he most dreaded,--that is, the shark getting past him, and continuing on to the others. The thought found expression in speech.

"Ho! Ma.s.sa Brace!" he cried, once more taking the steel from between his teeth. "Swim roun' to de right. Keep a-gwine in de circle. For de Lord sake, keep ahind me, or you loss fo' sartin!"

The sailor scarcely needed the counsel. He saw the danger before s...o...b..ll had spoken, and had already commenced the movement which the Coromantee was requesting him to make.

Once more the tableau changed. The _dramatis persona_ in their relative positions first formed an isosceles triangle, then a scalene, afterwards a right line. Now all were moving in a circle, or rather in three circles concentric to one another; the sailor, with his charge, revolving round the centre, s...o...b..ll in mid radius, while the shark, flanked by his satellites, went gliding along the outer circ.u.mference, his lurid eyes glaring continually inward, as if watching for an opportunity to break the line so carefully guarded by the Coromantee!

For full five minutes was this "ring" performance kept up, without any great alteration occurring in the relative positions of the parties.

But it was a game in which the outside player had all the advantage; for, although the zygaena had by far the greater distance to traverse, what was but sport to it was fatigue and the danger of drowning to its adversaries.

Had its skull been of a different formation, and filled with a better set of brains, it would have endeavoured to keep up that game, without in the least degree changing the mode of playing it. In due time, its chief antagonist, s...o...b..ll, must have cried quarter or gone to the bottom; and far sooner must have sunk the weighted swimmer in his wake.

But sharks, like other creatures both aquatic and terrestrial, have their moments of impatience and anger; and the zygaena, yielding to these pa.s.sions, common to both piscine and human nature, at length determined to break through the rules of the game, and bring the play to an abrupt termination.

In obedience to this impulse, it suddenly swerved from its circular course, and, heading towards the spot where Ben Brace, with Lilly Lalee clinging to his shoulder, was performing his shorter revolutions, it made a reckless and determined rush for the centre,--equally regardless of the admonition of its brace of monitors and the cold steel of the Coromantee, gleaming clear under the water through which it would have to make its way. So near had it to pa.s.s to the negro's flat nose that its glutinous skin would be almost in contact with his prominent lips, and with his outstretched hand he need have no difficulty in striking his slippery antagonist.

Had s...o...b..ll been antic.i.p.ating this change of tactics, he could not have acted more adroitly, or with greater promptness. As the zygaena was gliding onward, and just as its rough _pectoral_ pa.s.sed within an inch of his nose, he suddenly returned the knife between his teeth, and, simultaneously using both hands and limbs, he sprang upward in the waiter, and, with a vigorous effort, launched himself on its back!

In the next instant he was seen,--or might have been seen,--with one hand, the left, firmly grasping the bony protuberance of the zygaena's left eye, his muscular fingers deeply imbedded in the socket, while his right, clutching the long knife, was inflicting a series of stabs against the side of his adversary, now flas.h.i.+ng high in the air, now gleaming under water, going up and down with all the measured regularity of a trip-hammer.

When it pleased the Coromantee to dismount from his slippery saddle, the zygaena floated by his side,--a carca.s.s stained with its own blood, that for fathoms around encrimsoned the azure waters of the ocean!

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

THE CHASE OF THE CATAMARAN.

As we have said, little William, standing near the stern of the _Catamaran_, had watched the spectacle with suspended breath. It was only after seeing the zygaena float lifeless on the water, and becoming satisfied that s...o...b..ll had come out of the struggle safe as well as victorious, that the boy gave utterance to a shout. Then, unable longer to restrain himself, he raised a cry of joyful exultation.

It was neither prolonged nor repeated. It had scarce pa.s.sed his lips, ere it was succeeded by another of very different import. This was the very opposite to a shout of joy: rather was it a cry of consternation.

That little drama of the ocean, of which he had been the sole spectator, was not yet over. There was another act to come of equally thrilling interest with that just ended,--an act in which he himself would be called upon to play an important part along with the others.

It had already commenced; and the wild cry which escaped from the lips of the sailor-lad announced his first perception of the new phase into which the drama had entered.

Absorbed in the contemplation of the combat between s...o...b..ll and the shark, he had hitherto remained un.o.bservant of a circ.u.mstance of the most alarming character,--one that threatened not only the destruction of the Coromantee, but Ben Brace as well, and Lilly Lalee, and in time little William himself,--in short, of the whole party.

The lives of all were at that moment in the hands of the sailor-lad, or if not in his hands, then were all of them doomed to certain destruction.

You may be wondering what strange circ.u.mstance this was, fraught with such a terrible contingency. There was nothing mysterious in or about it. It was simply that the _Catamaran_, carrying its large spread sail, was drifting to leeward, and rapidly increasing the distance between itself and the swimmers.

Relieved from the anxiety with which he had regarded the conflict, little William at once became aware of this new danger,--hence his cry of consternation. Ben Brace either perceived it at the same instant, or else the shout of his _protege_ had drawn his attention to it; for, quick succeeding the latter, the voice of the sailor went rolling across the water in words of direction intended for the ears of little William.

"Will'm! Will'm!" shouted he, raising his lips above the surface so as to enunciate more distinctly. "For marcy's sake, lad, lay hold on the steerin' oar. Try to tack round, or we're lost one an' all o' us!"

At the same instant s...o...b..ll sputtered out some very similar orders; but being sadly out of breath from his exertions in the long-continued struggle with the zygaena, what proceeded from his mouth less resembled words than the snorting of a porpoise; and was, in truth, altogether unintelligible.

Little William needed no instructions,--neither to hear nor understand them. He had perceived the danger, and, with intuitive promptness, had commenced taking measures to avoid it. Partly guided by his own thoughts and partly by the directions of Ben Brace, he sprang suddenly towards the steering-oar; and, grasping it in both hands, he worked with all his might to bring the _Catamaran_ about. After a time he succeeded in getting her head as close to the wind as such a craft was capable of sailing, but it soon became evident to him that the manoeuvre would be of little or no avail. Although the raft did not make leeway quite as much as before, still with its great sail, rudely bent as it was, she made sufficient to preserve the distance from the swimmers; and, as William anxiously observed, still slightly increasing. Even s...o...b..ll, who, after giving the _coup de grace_ to the zygaena, had struck direct towards the _Catamaran_,--even he, unenc.u.mbered by aught save his wet s.h.i.+rt and trousers, although easily pa.s.sing the others in his course, did not appear to gain an inch upon the runaway raft.

It was an anxious time for all parties; and the anxiety reached its height when they perceived, as one and all soon did, that the unmanageable craft was keeping its distance, if not gaining a greater.

That state of things could not continue long. Both the swimmers had already begun to show signs of flagging. s...o...b..ll, sea-duck that he was, might have held out a good while; but the sailor, weighted with Lalee, must soon "go under." Even s...o...b..ll could not swim forever; and, unless some incident should arise to change the character of this aquatic chase, and arrest the _Catamaran_ in her leeward course, sooner or later must the Coromantee become also the prey of the all-swallowing ocean.

For several minutes--they seemed hours to all--did the struggle continue between man and _Catamaran_, without any very great advantage in favour of either. It is true some change had taken place in the relative positions of the parties. The Coromantee, at starting in pursuit of the raft, had been some fathoms in the wake of Ben Brace and his _protege_.

They were now in his wake, falling, alas! still farther behind him.

Unfortunately for all, s...o...b..ll, while increasing his distance from them, was not lessening it from the _Catamaran_; and therefore the advantage he was gaining over the sailor could be of no use, so long as the raft proved swifter as a sailer than he was as a swimmer.

s...o...b..ll's original idea in striking out in pursuit of the _Catamaran_ was to get aboard; and, by making a better use of the steering-oar than he had hitherto done, to bring the craft back within _saving_ distance of the exhausted swimmer. Confident in his natatory powers, he had at first believed this feat to be not only possible, but probable and easy.

It was only after several minutes spent in the pursuit, and the distance between him and the _Catamaran_ seemed to grow greater instead of less, that the negro really began to feel anxiety about the result.

This anxiety kept increasing as the minutes pa.s.sed, and the broad stretch of blue water between him and the _Catamaran_ appeared to grow no narrower, strike out as he would with all the strength of his sinewy arms, and kick as he might with all the muscular energy that lay in his stout legs.

His anxiety became anguish, when, after one of his most vigorous efforts, he believed, or fancied, that all had been in vain, and that the _Catamaran_ had actually gained upon him. Whether fancy or not, it produced conviction in his mind that to overtake the craft was impossible; and all at once he discontinued the attempt. He did not, however, remain stationary in the water. Far from that. On abandoning the pursuit of the _Catamaran_, he turned like an otter, and looked back in the direction from which he had come. In this direction, nearly two hundred fathoms distant, two dark objects, so close together as to seem one, were visible over the "curl" of the water.

They were just visible to an eye elevated several inches above the surface; and s...o...b..ll was obliged to buoy himself into an erect att.i.tude,--like a seal taking a survey of the circle around it, or a dog pitched unexpectedly into a deep pond,--before he could see them.

He saw them, however; he knew what they were; and, without a moment's pause or hesitation, he recommenced cleaving the water in a line leading directly towards them.