The Rushton Boys at Treasure Cove Part 19

"Could we pull him on board, do you think?" inquired Teddy.

"Not in a hundred years," replied Lester. "If we had a pulley big enough and rope strong enough, we might hoist him up, but in no other way. I guess the best way to do is to crowd on sail and tow him in to Milton."

"How much further do we have to go?" asked Fred.

"Oh, it's a matter of ten or twelve miles yet," was the answer. "If we were free, we could make it in a little over an hour the way this wind is holding up. But the shark will be a big drag against us, and it will take us at least twice as long. The harpoon sticking out at that angle helps to keep us back."

"What do we care how long it takes us to get there!" gloated Teddy. "We have all the time there is and I don't care whether it takes us two hours or ten. We'll have something to show the natives when we do get there."

"Oh, they've seen plenty of sharks," said Lester. "But I don't think they've often clapped eyes on one as big as this."

"After we reach Milton, how are we going to get the shark ash.o.r.e?"

persisted Bill.

"Oh, that will be no trick at all," was the answer. "The beach shelves out gradually there and I can take the _Ariel_ pretty close in.

Then you fellows can tumble overboard and wade in, dragging the shark with you. We couldn't lift him, but it will be easy enough to drag him up on the sand."

"I'm anxious to get close to him so that I can study him," said Fred.

"You might have been nearer to one than you liked the day you went over after Ross," laughed Bill.

"Yes," admitted Fred, "he'd have had the laugh on me then. But they laugh best who laugh last."

"And we're laughing last, all right," declared Lester.

"Thanks to your good arm and the old harpoon," added Bill.

"We have with us to-day, gentlemen," said Teddy, a.s.suming the air and tone of a professional introducer, "two renowned throwers. Indeed, I may say three.

"This gentleman at the tiller, Mr. Lester Lee, throws the harpoon. This other at the sheet, Mr. Frederic Rushton, throws the baseball. This idler at my right, Mr. William Garwood, throws the la.s.so. I admit, gentlemen, with deep regret, that of all this ill.u.s.trious company I am the only one who doesn't throw something."

"Oh yes you do," put in Bill quickly.

"What?"

"You throw the bull," said Bill.

CHAPTER XVII

A PLEASANT SURPRISE

The other boys roared, and for a moment Teddy was disconcerted. But he quickly recovered his balance.

"I suppose," he retorted, frowning severely at the culprit, "that this low-brow means to intimate that I am a Spanish athlete. I should be deeply pained to know that any one who has been under the refining influence of Rally Hall should indulge in the practice of slang. What would our dear Doctor Rally say if he heard one of his pupils----"

But the question remained forever unanswered, for just then a piece of pork that Bill had picked up from the deck whizzed past the orator's face, and, in the quick and undignified duck he made, Teddy lost the thread of his discourse.

"Suppose you two cut out the fooling and get down to business," grinned Lester. "Fred and I are the only ones doing anything, and it's time you loafers 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 oil stove, and the odors of sizzling bacon and steaming coffee soon made Lester 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 tussle with the shark that I didn't have time to think of anything else. But now I'm hungry enough to eat nails."

"If that's the way you refer to the meal we're getting up, you can't have any," threatened Teddy. "We may not be hotel chefs, but we'll not stand for having our eats compared to nails, will we, Bill?"

"Not by a jugful!" answered Bill, as he scrambled some eggs in the bacon grease.

"Take it all back," laughed Lester.

Teddy cut some slices of bread and Bill opened a jar of marmalade, which they put with the other eatables on the tiny table leaves that they propped up on both sides of the centerboard.

"Come along now, you aristocrats," called out Teddy, "and profit by the labor of us poor working men."

The wind was steady, so that Lester could fasten his tiller while Fred hitched the sail rope round a cleat. Then they crowded into the little cabin and pa.s.sed judgment on the dinner. That it was a favorable one was shown by the magical rapidity with which every crumb disappeared.

"No dyspeptics in this crowd," laughed Fred, when the board had been swept clean.

"Not so that you could notice it," returned Bill. "A doctor would starve to death if he had to depend on our patronage."

"My belt is so tight that it hurts," admitted Teddy, loosening it a few holes.

They lay around lazily for a few minutes, too happy and satisfied to move. Then Fred and Lester resumed their places, while the other two drew a bucket of water and washed the dishes and pans. This done, they slumped down comfortably in the stern, watching the body of the shark that lunged along clumsily in the wake of the _Ariel_.

"He has an open countenance, hasn't he?" grinned Teddy, as they caught an occasional glimpse of the huge mouth on the under side of the head.

"And look at those teeth," s.h.i.+vered Bill. "They say that an alligator's jaw snaps shut with the power of fifteen hundred pounds. But I'll bet that the alligator has nothing on the shark."

"I guess you're right," agreed Teddy. "Those jaws would cut a man's leg off 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 in Fred.

"I wouldn't care to be the dentist that had the job of pulling one of them," laughed Bill. "I'm afraid the patient would be a little peevish."

"I'd get my a.s.sistant to pump a ton of chloroform in him first,"

declared Fred. "And even then I'd want to get into a suit of armor before I operated on him."

"No wonder the sailors hate the brutes," mused Teddy, as he thought of the poor fellows who had been devoured by the monsters.