CHAPTER SEVEN.
THE GREAT SWAMP AND ITS WEIRD DENIZENS.
It was on the eleventh day after the resumption of their march that,quite early in the afternoon, they finally emerged from the forest andfound themselves upon the edge of a swamp, which stretched away aheadand on either side of them as far as the eye could reach, except that,in the extreme distance, and in the direction in which they wished totravel, there was the suggestion of firm and somewhat hilly ground whichmight be about thirty miles distant.
"Gee!" ejaculated Earle, as the party came to a halt by the margin ofthe morass-like expanse, "this promises to be a corker, Dick. Eh, what?Guess we'll have to go into camp for a bit, and explore. I don't atall like the notion of attempting to force our way across that swamp, ifthere is a method of working round it--as of course there is if we areprepared to travel far enough. This reminds me of Florida, where I oncespent a month shooting 'gators--and other things. I guess there'll beall the 'gators we want in there, to say nothing of snakes, mosquitos,scorpions, centipedes, and other `varmint.' No; I guess we'll go round,if we can; and if we can't, we must make dugouts, and effect thecrossing in them. We'll never be able to do it any other way."
It was indeed a formidable-looking barrier, this vast expanse of swamp,that stretched itself, mile after mile, right athwart the party'scourse, and its aspect was as dreary and depressing as one could wellimagine. All along its margin the soil was soft, boggy and treacherous,to such an extent, indeed, that while making a preliminary investigationof the ground before definitely deciding upon a location for the camp,Dick suddenly sank in to above his knees, and only succeeded inextricating himself with the utmost difficulty, assisted though he wasby Earle and some half a dozen Indians, who formed themselves into ahuman chain and dragged him out by main force.
The entire expanse of swamp appeared to be level, with the exception ofa few very trifling elevations here and there, and seemed to consist ofboggy soil covered with a rank growth of coarse grass, reeds, andstunted bush, sparsely dotted here and there with a few gnarled andunwholesome-looking trees, the whole intersected by a labyrinth ofcanals filled with stagnant water, which wound hither and thither in amost purposeless and bewildering fashion. That insect life aboundedthere was manifest at the most cursory glance, for great clouds ofmidges or flies could be seen hovering in the air in every direction,while Earle's surmise as to the presence of alligators was abundantlyconfirmed by the frequent roaring of the creatures. The forest seemedto grow close up to the margin of the swamp everywhere, a mere narrowstrip of open ground some twenty to thirty yards wide, dividing the two.
A fairly satisfactory site for the camp having at length been found,Earle and Dick, armed with rifle and automatic, and each accompanied byan Indian carrying a machete, set off in opposite directions to explorethe margin of the swamp, in the hope of discovering a spot from which apromising start to cross might be made; while King Cole, quite unable todecide which of his masters he would accompany, finally laid down withhis head between his paws and whined pitifully, refusing to be comfortedby anybody.
Warned by his recent mishap, Dick was careful to give the treacherousmargin of the swamp a wide berth. The route he was pursuing led aboutdue south; and for nearly an hour he pursued his way at a good briskpace, uneventfully and without finding anything like that of which hewas in search. Eventually, however, he arrived at a point where theedge of the forest abruptly receded toward the east, leaving a wideexpanse of bare soil, beyond which, at a distance of a short quarter ofa mile, the swamp again appeared, stretching away limitlessly toward thesouth and east. Apparently, the only thing to do was to follow thenortherly margin of solid ground, which seemed to trend away in awesterly direction, the direction namely in which Earle wished totravel, and this Dick accordingly did. He followed this course forabout half an hour, finding the tongue of firm ground which he wastraversing vary in width, from time to time, from several yards to, inplaces, merely enough for a man conveniently to walk upon, while ittwisted hither and thither in the most erratic fashion, although on thewhole it continued to push its way steadily westward toward the heart ofthe swamp. Then, glancing at the declining sun, he decided that he mustretrace his steps if he desired to get back to camp before dark.
Thus far, the afternoon's journey had been wholly uneventful, exceptingfor the persistent attacks of the myriads of mosquitoes and flies whichswarmed in great clouds about the two adventurers to such an extent thatthere were times when they were compelled to halt and beat the pests offtheir bodies. But now they had something else than flies and mosquitoesto think about, for they had scarcely progressed a quarter of a mile ontheir return when, as they approached a spot where the firm soilnarrowed to a mere causeway, scarcely two feet in width, Dick, who wasleading, suddenly became aware of a strange and formidable-lookingcreature squatting at the far extremity of the causeway, apparentlyawaiting their approach.
As his eyes fell upon it Cavendish came to a halt so suddenly that theIndian in his rear cannoned into him, nearly knocking him into the blackwater alongside.
"Steady, Moquit!" exclaimed Dick, addressing his follower in the Indiantongue, in which he was rapidly acquiring a considerable degree ofproficiency. "Look ahead, Moquit. What is that thing? Have you everseen anything like it before?"
"Never, master," answered Moquit, staring with bulging eyes at theapparition, which in its turn was staring back at them. "I like it not.Toqui preserve us!"--(Toqui was the name of Moquit's most reveredgod)--"it looks like a slayer of men. Had not master better destroy itwith his fire tube, lest it cross over and devour us?"
"I do not think we need greatly fear that," answered Dick, holding hisrifle in readiness nevertheless. "The causeway is too narrow for thebrute to cross. What, in the name of Fortune, can the beast be?" heconcluded in his own tongue.
He might well wonder; for never in his life before had he seen such acreature, either alive, dead, or even in a picture. And yet--stay! Ashe looked at the thing more intently, there seemed to gradually floatinto his memory a hazy sort of recollection that he _had_ seen a pictureor representation of the creature which squatted there stolidly somethirty yards before him.
According to Cavendish's own subsequent description, which was confirmedin every particular by Moquit, the general impression conveyed was thatof a gigantic frog, as big as an ox, but with several importantmodifications, one of which was that its capacious mouth was furnishedwith a most formidable set of sharp, curved, dagger-like teeth, of whichthe observers gained an excellent view, since the creature opened itsmouth several times. It was a quadruped; that is to say, it wasprovided with four legs, but while its front legs were so short as to belittle more than rudimentary, its hind legs were as long and apparentlyas powerful, proportionately, as those of a kangaroo. And, like akangaroo, it was provided with a long tail, as thick at the root as itsown body, tapering away to a blunt point. Indeed, as Dick remarked, hecould scarcely describe the creature better than by likening it to whathe conceived might be the appearance of a cross between a frog and akangaroo. It had a pair of big, staring eyes, its toes were armed withlong, murderous-looking claws, and its brownish-yellow skin was mottledall over with wart-like protuberances.
For fully five minutes, Dick supposes, he stood intently studying thepeculiarities of the extraordinary creature, animated much more bycuriosity than by any sense of fear, for he had somehow fully persuadedhimself that the beast would not hazard the passage of that narrowcauseway, while in any case a shot or two from the U.M.C. Remington,which the young Englishman carried, would of a surety put an end to thecreature's career. Then, as Dick still stood watching and perhapswaiting for developments of some sort, the great brute suddenly roseupon its hind legs and, uttering a curious squealing sound, launcheditself into the air with a terrific spring which Cavendish saw withconsternation would bring the beast right upon him. Quick andunexpected as was the action, however, it did not take Dick wholly bysurprise; on the contrary, as tho
ugh by instinct, he threw up the muzzleof his rifle, pressed the trigger, and heard the bullet thud as itstruck the leaping body. A loud, horrible scream escaped the brute asthe bullet smote it. It writhed in mid-air, and that writhe caused itto fall into the water instead of landing upon Dick's body, as it mustotherwise have done. It fell with a terrific splash which drenched Dickand Moquit, and still writhing with pain, instantly turned, with theevident intention of climbing out and attacking the two men. But bythis time Dick had begun to realise the dangerous character of thecreature, and, rapidly levelling his rifle again, shot it through thehead as it laid its two front paws upon the bank preparatory to climbingout. With a moaning gasp, the great body relaxed and slowly settledback into the water, where it presently turned over on its back andfloated, dead. Less than a minute later, while Dick and Moquit stillstood staring in amazement at the weird creature, there came a sudden,violent swirling in the black water, and the heads of some six or sevenenormous alligators appeared round the body. The great jaws of thereptiles opened, and the carcass was violently dragged hither andthither as the huge saurians tugged fiercely at it. Dick did not waitto see the issue of the struggle, but skipped nimbly across thecauseway, with Moquit close upon his heels, and made the best of his wayback to camp, where he found Earle already anxiously awaiting him.
"Well," demanded the American, as Cavendish came within hail, "have youmet with any luck? I was beginning to feel a bit uneasy about you, forwe seem to have struck a rather dangerous streak of country here."
"What!" exclaimed Dick. "Have you, too, been meeting with adventures,then?"
"Of a sort, yes; though nothing worth speaking about," answered Earle."Simply met the biggest python I've ever seen; and as the beggar seemedin a quarrelsome humour and spoiling for a fight, I shot him. And you?I sort of gather from your last remark that you have met with anadventure of some sort. Is that so?"
"You bet!" answered Dick, who was almost unconsciously adopting many ofEarle's expressive idioms. And he proceeded to relate in detail theoccurrences of the afternoon.
"Gee!" exclaimed Earle, when his companion had finished. "That soundsinteresting. I wonder what the brute can have been." (He was referringto the strange beast which Dick had shot). "Do you think you could drawa picture of him?"
"Oh yes, after a fashion," answered Dick, who was really rather cleverwith his pencil and brush in an amateurish fashion. "He was somethinglike this." And, whipping out his pocket-book, he rapidly produced avery spirited pencil sketch of the unknown creature.
"Gee!" repeated Earle, studying the sketch. "Say, Dick, this isintensely interesting. The thing looks absolutely new to me. And yet--I don't quite know. Seems to me that I've somewhere seen something abit like it before--"
"That's what I thought," said Dick; "though I'm quite prepared to swearthat I never before saw the actual thing itself. I should haveremembered it if I had."
"Y-e-s, I guess you would," returned Earle, still thoughtfullyconsidering the sketch. At length he returned the book to Dick,remarking:
"Then you think there is just a possibility that we may be able to crossthe swamp by way of that tongue of firm ground that you explored thisafternoon? In that case, I guess we'll try it. We may succeed; and ifwe do, it will save us a long journey round; for I was unable to findthe northern end of the swamp this afternoon, although, before turningback I climbed the highest tree in the neighbourhood and carefullysearched the whole of the visible country through my Goertz prismatics.We will try that tongue of land of yours to-morrow, Dick. And as forthe flies and things, I guess we can beat them by enveloping our headsin gauze veils and wearing gloves. I brought some green gauze alongexpressly to meet such a contingency. Learned the wrinkle in Africa,where the flies and mosquitoes used to drive me pretty nearly crazy."
An hour after sunrise on the following morning found the expedition enroute, and in due time it reached the tongue of firm ground which Dickhad discovered during the preceding afternoon. Here the two leadersenveloped their heads, helmets and all, in capacious veils of greengauze which Earle had produced during the preceding evening.
Earle was in exceptionally high spirits that morning. The story ofDick's encounter with the strange beast had intensely interested him,for he was by way of being a naturalist, as well as a good many otherthings, and he was naturally eager to get a sight of another creature ofthe same species. Then a view at close quarters of the swamp addedfurther to his excitement, for even then, in the dazzling glare of themorning sun, there was a certain suggestion of weirdness and uncanninessabout the place that appealed very strongly to his imagination. Toyoung, prosaic Dick Cavendish, a sailor pure and simple, whose onlyknowledge of science was that connected with navigation, the swamp wasjust--well, a swamp, and nothing more; but, to Earle's higher scientificintelligence it was an absorbingly interesting mystery. For they hadscarcely penetrated it to the depth of a mile before the American beganto be aware that the character of his surroundings was undergoing asubtle change, the herbage underfoot, the rushes that edged the lagoonsand water channels, the plants that here and there in wide patches hidthe surface of the water, the ferns that decked the banks of thewater-courses, were all new and strange to him; and this, in conjunctionwith Dick's adventure here, less than twenty-four hours ago, generatedwithin him a thrilling conviction that he was on the brink of great andimportant discoveries.
Presently Dick turned to him and said, pointing: "You see where theground narrows away to a mere ridge, ahead there? It was just on thisside of it that the queer beast was squatting when I first caught sightof him."
"That so?" responded Earle, coming to a sudden standstill. "Halt there,men; don't advance another step until I tell you," he ordered, wheelinground and holding up his hand.
"Now then, Dick," he continued, "you and I will go forward, carefullyexamining the soil for footprints. Perhaps, if we are in luck, we maysucceed in finding an impression, though I am afraid the ground israther too dry--stay, what is this?"
Stretching out his hand to stay Dick's incautious advance, Earle wentdown on one knee and carefully examined a faint impression on theground. It consisted of a slight depression in the thin dust overlayingthe hard earth, practically circular in shape and about the size of thepalm of a man's hand, and beyond it, at a distance of about three feetsix inches, there were three somewhat deeper impressions, about a footapart, such as might be made by the sharp claws of an animal.
"I guess this looks very much as though it might be one of thefootprints of your friend," remarked Earle, after he had intentlystudied the impression for a full minute or more; "but it is veryimperfect and indistinct; not nearly clear enough to be satisfactory.Let's go on a bit; perhaps we may find others. If not, we'll come backand examine this again. Go carefully, old chap, and if you see anyother marks, don't tread on them, for goodness' sake."
Crouching low and advancing a single step at a time, as they carefullyscanned the ground before them, the two friends had covered a distanceof some five yards when they came upon two more impressions, a littlemore distinctly marked than the first. They were about six feet apart,but in line athwart the path, and suggested the idea of having been madeby the landing of the creature upon the ground after a forward jump.These, too, Earle carefully examined before proceeding, and then the twofriends went on to the spot where Dick had seen the thing squatting.And here, the soil being considerably more moist and clayey, they found,to Earle's intense delight, some half a dozen deep and perfectly clearimprints, only two of which had been partially obliterated by the feetof Dick and Moquit on their return after killing the beast. Theimprints somewhat resembled those of a thick-toed bird, but wereimmensely larger than the spoor of any known bird, measuring exactlythree feet nine and a quarter inches from the back of the heel to thefront of the middle claw--which seemed to be some six inches longer thanthe two others--and two feet two inches across from one outer claw tothe other; the indent showing that the middle claw was fourteen inch
eslong.
"Gosh!" exclaimed Earle excitedly, as he rose to his full height afterhaving made a careful figured drawing of the impression in hispocket-book--"what would I not give for enough plaster of paris to makea cast of that footprint! Guess it will make some of the professors athome sit up and take notice when they see this drawing in the book,which I mean to publish when I get back. Most of 'em won't believe it,I expect. They'll denounce it as a traveller's tale. Hold on, though,I'll take a photograph--two or three photographs--of the impressions;perhaps that will convince them. You shall stand just there, Dick, andI'll include you in one of the pictures, to act as a sort of scale."
The photographs were duly taken; and then Earle expressed the utmostanxiety to secure the carcass of the creature itself. But, as Dickreminded his companion, the creature had no sooner been killed than itbecame a prey to several alligators of formidable size, therefore anyattempt to fish up the remains from the bottom of the canal would becertain to result in failure. And when Dick, pressing home his point,inquired whether Earle proposed to dive to the bottom in search of thebody, the American reluctantly admitted that even his scientific ardourwas scarcely equal to the adoption of such a course. The march wastherefore resumed, after about an hour's delay, Earle consoling himselfwith the hope that one specimen of the unknown monster having been foundin the swamp, others might also exist there, and they might be fortunateenough to encounter one or more of them.
Naturally, the party's rate of travelling was slow; for not only wasEarle now constantly engaged in searching the ground for further "sign"of creatures possibly peculiar to the swamp, but halts were frequentlybeing called while suspicious indications were carefully investigated;consequently when the mid-day halt was at length called, it wasestimated that the party had not penetrated the swamp to a distance ofmore than some six or seven miles as the crow flies, though, of course,they had actually traversed a distance nearly half as much again. But,even so, Earle was quite satisfied with what had been done so far; whilethere was still no sign of a break in the continuity of the firm soilupon which they had been travelling.
The camp was pitched at a point where it widened out until there wasfully a hundred yards of it between the two stretches of water to rightand left, while on the right hand, or northern side of this wide space,the canal-like watercourse had given place to a sort of lagoon, nearly amile long by about half that width. The water in this lagoon was muchcleaner and more wholesome-looking than that in the canals, yet Earleconsidered that it would be unwise to use it for drinking purposes; hetherefore selected a spot and set a couple of Indians to work to dig apit in search of water, which he expected to find at a depth of two orthree feet, such water to be first filtered and then boiled before use.And while the digging was proceeding, Earle and Dick took up a positionon the summit of a low knoll a few yards away, and examined theirsurroundings through their prismatic glasses.
Suddenly Dick turned to his companion and pointed.
"I say, Earle," he exclaimed, "what sort of an anima is that? Surely itis not a wild boar, though it looks a bit like the pictures I have seenof them."
"Where?" demanded Earle, who had been looking in another direction."Oh! I see," he continued, catching sight of the creature at which Dickwas pointing, and which was standing at the edge of a little strip ofbeach, about a quarter of a mile away, on the opposite side of thewater.
The two raised their glasses to their eyes and proceeded to watch theanimal, which seemed to have a desire to drink, but was debating withinitself the question of how far it would be prudent to enter the watereven as far as would be necessary to enable it to do so. It wasstanding quite still, staring down into the water, and thus afforded anexcellent opportunity for careful inspection.
"N-o," answered Earle slowly, after he had studied the appearance of thecreature for nearly a minute--"it certainly is not a boar, though it isnot altogether unlike one. But it is too big for a boar. Looks to memore like a hyaena--though of course I know there are no such creaturesin this country. Also it is far too big to be a hyaena--unless it is anentirely new species. And the thing has tusks, just like a wild boar.Now, what the mischief can it be? It is rather too far off for a deadshot, or I would have a try at it; but it would be a pity to merelywound it and scare it away. Say! is there any way of getting across tothe other side, short of swimming?"
"I'm afraid not," answered Dick. "And after what I saw yesterday Iwouldn't give a farthing for the chance of anybody who should attempt toswim in these waters."
Dick still had his glasses to his eyes as he spoke; and even as the lastwords left his lips he had an impression of something stealthily movingin the long herbage some distance to the rear of the strange animalwhich they were watching. He was about to direct Earle's attention tothe circumstance when, from the spot where he had observed the stealthymovement, a great body rose into the air with a tremendous leap andhurtling through the intervening space, descended fair and square uponthe body of the creature standing by the water's edge.
"Gee-rusalem!" shouted Earle, as the harsh scream of the stricken animalpealed out on the stagnant air. "See that, Cavendish?"
"Sure!" responded Dick. "Take particular notice of that last brute,Earle; for as sure as my name is Cavendish, it is another of the samekind that I killed yesterday."
"My revered ancestors! You don't say so!" gasped Earle. "Sure?"
"Absolutely certain," averred Dick.
"But--but--man alive--" stammered Earle in his excitement, "you told methat the thing you shot yesterday was a sort of cross between a frog anda kangaroo, and that beast doesn't suggest at all that sort of idea tome. What a ferocious beast it is! He is literally tearing the otherpoor brute to pieces."
"Yes," agreed Dick. "And I am just now beginning to understand what anarrow squeak I had yesterday. For that fellow is exactly like thething I killed yesterday, though, now that I see him broadside-on, theresemblance, whether to a frog or a kangaroo, is not so strong as it waswhen I was facing him. But there are the same long, powerful hind legs,the same almost invisible front ones, the same gaping mouth filled withstrong, dagger-like teeth, the same long, thick, pointed tail--in short,the same creature from stem to stern."
"But the head of that thing is more like an alligator's than a frog's,"objected Earle. "And then, look at that serrated arrangement of theskin--I suppose it is--from the back of the head to the extremity of thetail. You never said anything about that."
"No," admitted Dick, "I believe I didn't; but the other thing had it,all the same. I remember noticing it, now that you call my attention toit. I tell you that the two creatures are identical in every respect,except that this one looks to be a bit bigger than the other. Do youhappen to know what the thing is called?"
"N-o, I am not sure that I do," answered Earle, "but I'll find out assoon as ever I get back to New York. I shall remember the appearance ofthe beast all right, now that I've actually seen it, and I guess therewill be somebody who can tell me. Say! Dick, I wouldn't have missedthis sight for a thousand dollars; and I'd give ten thousand to get theskin and skeleton of the brute. If I could but secure them, I'd gostraight back to New York at once, and leave Manoa for another time.Isn't there _any_ way by which we could get across that insignificantstrip of water?"
"Not without a boat or a raft of some sort, I'm afraid," answered Dick."And there is nothing hereabout from which we could construct even themost elementary sort of raft. Besides, before we could put anythingtogether, even if we had the material, the brute would be gone. See, hehas almost gorged the whole of his prey already."
"I've a mind to try a shot at him--and I will, too," said Earle. "Hi,there, Peter, bring me my point-three-five Remington and somecartridges. Hurry, you black angel! Perhaps if the brute is verysavage, and we can attract his attention, or hurt him a bit, he may takeit into his head to attack us. He could jump across the stream a littlelower down, easily enough. Or he may be a swimmer. He looks a gooddeal more like
a reptile than a beast, anyhow."
Peter, the black cook, came running up at this juncture with theRemington, and Earle, snatching it from him, quickly adjusted the backsight and throwing himself prone upon the ground, took careful aim atthe formidable-looking brute, which had ceased to feed and was nowsquatting on its haunches, facing toward the two men. A few seconds ofsuspense and the rifle flashed, the hum of the bullet was heard, andthen a thud as it struck. Coincident with the thud of the bullet, thegreat body sprang high into the air, a loud, blood-curdling screampealed out, and then, with a succession of prodigious leaps, itdisappeared among the rank herbage.
The result was a bitter disappointment for Earle, who declared that hewould not move from the spot until he had satisfied himself that it wasimpossible to cross to the other side of the water. But, short ofswimming, there was no means of crossing, for there was nothingwherewith to make a raft of even the most flimsy description. This factbeing at length conclusively established, the march was resumedimmediately after the conclusion of the mid-day meal.
About an hour before sunset that day, they were rather unexpectedlybrought to a halt by finding themselves on a small peninsula of somefive acres in extent, thrusting itself forward into a great lagoon, thewaters of which stretched away on either hand for many miles, while inthe direction toward which they wished to travel, the nearest point ofland was distant about a mile and a half. After surveying theirsurroundings for some time, the two leaders agreed that it was too latein the day to retrace their steps across the narrow isthmus by whichthey had arrived and seek some other route; the camp was thereforepitched on the south-westerly slope of the peninsula, quite close to alittle strip of sandy beach, with a background consisting of a hummocksome fifteen feet high crowned by an extensive clump of strange-lookingshrubs, the nature of which Earle was anxious to investigate.
The day had been overpoweringly hot, the sun blazing down upon themunintermittently out of a cloudless sky; but now, while the camp wasbeing pitched, a thin haze began insidiously to overspread the blue,while away toward the south-west a great bank of slatey blue cloudappeared above the ridge of the distant hills, working up against thewind and seeming to portend a thunderstorm.
Now that they had come to a halt, the leaders mutually confessed to afeeling of great fatigue, while the listless manner in which the Indianswere going about their duties showed that they, too, were longing for anopportunity to rest their weary limbs. Earle flung himself down uponthe short moss-like turf bordering the strip of beach and gazedlongingly at the rippling waters of the lagoon as they sparkled in theslanting rays of the declining sun. Unlike the turbid, black and almoststagnant water in the canals which they had been passing during theday's march, the tiny wavelets which rippled in upon the adjacent beachwere crystal clear, and gave off the fresh, wholesome smell of purewater; and when, a little later, Earle rose languidly to his feet, andadvancing a few paces to the water's edge, scooped up a handful of theliquid and tasted it, he expressed the opinion that it was quitewholesome enough for drinking purposes.
"And it is deliciously cool, too," he remarked to Dick. "For two pins Iwould strip and have a swim."
"Not if I know it, my friend," retorted Dick. "I grant you that thewater looks almost irresistibly tempting, and I have no doubt that aswim would be amazingly refreshing--if we could only be sure of going inand coming out again unharmed. But who knows what dangers may belurking beneath that sparkling surface? The place may be swarming withalligators, for aught that we know, and--"
"Why, you surely don't mean to say that you are afraid, Dick?"
"No, I don't," returned Dick, "and if there were any real necessity todo so, I would not hesitate a moment to plunge in and swim across to theother side. But when one knows that there is a possibility of beingseized and pulled down by an alligator, I contend that it would be follyto risk one's life merely for the pleasure of a swim. I once saw a manseized by a shark. We were becalmed in the Indian Ocean, and the fellowdetermined to avail himself of the opportunity to go overboard andindulge in the luxury of a salt-water bath; so he got a chum to go upinto the foretopmast crosstrees and have a look round. The chumsignalled all clear, and the would-be bather slipped surreptitiouslyover the bows, passed along the martingale stays, dropped quietly intothe water, and struck out. And before he had swum three strokes a sharkdarted from under the ship's bottom and--that was the end of him. No,sir--look there! See that swirl? That means something big--analligator, or a big fish of some sort, which is as likely as not to bedangerous. No; no swimming for me--or for you, either, thank you. Butit wouldn't be at all a bad idea to have our portable bath-tubs set upon the sand, and have a good dip in them."