CHAPTER XIX
THE SPOILS OF WAR
Just where the cabin stood was a little bay formed by an inward bend ofthe coast, and in this the water was comparatively smooth.
Lester headed his boat into this and Ross, who took his sailingdirections from the _Ariel_, followed his example.
A hundred yards from shore, Fred ran down the sail and the boat driftedin with its own momentum, while Lester took soundings cautiously to findthe best place to cast anchor. The _Ariel_ was of light draught,and, with the centerboard up, found three feet of water ample to preventher scraping.
"Here we are," Lester said at last, when the two boats had reached asuitable spot and he could see the sandy bottom through the clear water."Heave over the anchor now, and you fellows stand ready to gooverboard."
The boys followed his directions, and a moment later all were in thewater.
Lester had previously unfastened the line by which they had been towingthe shark and thrown it over to Fred, who stood the nearest to theshore. The rest ranged themselves along the line at intervals and benttheir backs to the strain.
For strain it proved to be. While the huge carcass was floating clear ofthe bottom it was comparatively easy to draw him along; but when thelower part began to scrape, it was a more difficult matter. Theyprogressed only an inch at a time. By taking advantage of the rollers,however, as they came tumbling in, the boys finally got their booty tothe edge of the water line. They could not drag it entirely clear of thewater, but got it half way out, the head and upper part of the bodyremaining exposed, while the tail swished idly to and fro in the shallowwater.
"Whew!" said Teddy, wiping his streaming forehead. "I wouldn't like towork so hard as that every day in the week."
"You won't have to," remarked Lester, comfortingly. "Lightning doesn'tstrike twice in the same place, and the chances are that you'll nevercatch a shark again in your life."
"As long as a shark never catches me, I won't kick," said thephilosophical Bill.
They threw themselves down on the beach, panting and perspiring. The daywas very warm, and the excitement of the catch, together with theirrecent efforts, made the rest a needed and grateful one.
"Well," said Lester, the first to get on his feet again, "while youweary Willies are loafing here, I'm going up to Mark's cabin and see ifhe's at home. The chances are that he isn't, or he'd have been out tosee what all this fuss was about. Still, he may be asleep. Anyway,whether he's home or not, I want to scare up an axe or hatchet orsomething of the kind to dig out that harpoon."
"What's the matter with the hatchet we've got?" asked Teddy lazily.
"That's rather small, and, besides, with that only one can work at atime. It'll take some digging to get through that hide. Then, too, youfellows were talking of getting out the teeth and strips of the hide formementoes, and you can't do that with your pocket knives alone."
"Go on then, you horny-handed son of toil, and luck be with you,"drawled Bill. "You'll find us here when you get back."
"I'm sure of that," retorted Lester. "It would take an earthquake tomake you fellows move."
Lester went up the beach until he reached the open door of the cabin andlooked in. He found it deserted as he had expected. He went in andhunted about among its meagre belongings and came back to the boys,triumphant, bringing with him a hatchet, an axe and a large, keen-bladedknife that was used by Mark in cleaning his fish.
"Here they are!" he exclaimed, as he laid them down on the sand. "Markwasn't at home, so I made free with these things of his, as I knew hewouldn't mind. There's no further excuse for you hoboes now, and youwant to get a wiggle on."
"Take back them cruel woids," groaned Teddy.
"Listen to the chant of the slave driver!" jibed Bill.
"There's nothing left but to obey, shipmates," said Fred with mockresignation. "Remember he's the captain and we don't want to be triedfor mutiny."
They distributed the implements among them and moved in a body towardthe shark.
The first thing to do was to get out the harpoon, and this was no easytask, for the barb of the shank lay deeply imbedded among the toughfibres of its victim. The implement was freed at last, however, andLester carefully washed it off in the water and then polished it withsand until it shone.
"Just see him gloat," laughed Teddy. "You'd think he was a pilgrim whohad just come across a precious relic."
"Or a miner who had found a diamond," added Ross.
"He's earned the right to gloat," maintained Fred. "If I'd driven home aharpoon with such a sure hand and steady aim as his, I'd be so proudthat my hat wouldn't fit me."
"I'm thinking as much of dad as I am of myself," grinned Lester. "He'llbe tickled to death when he hears that I've speared a shark with thatold harpoon of his. He's always thought a lot of it, but he'll thinkstill more of it now."
"Well, now that the harpoon is out, let's turn this fellow on his back.I want to have a good look at that mouth of his," remarked Fred.
It was quite an undertaking, but by distributing themselves along thebody, using their implements as levers and all heaving at a givensignal, they finally succeeded.
It was a frightful mouth, armed with huge rows of sawlike teeth, andalthough they knew the brute was dead the boys could not repress ashudder as they looked at it.
"Talk about a buzz saw!" exclaimed Teddy. "It couldn't cut you in twomore neatly than this fellow could when he was swimming around."
"If those teeth could talk, I imagine they'd have some stories to tell,"added Ross.
"And they wouldn't be pretty stories either," observed Bill.
"I wouldn't want him to be the undertaker at my funeral," said Fred, whocould not help thinking that that dismal function might have beenperformed by this shark or some other the day he had gone overboard.
"Look at those wicked eyes," said Lester. "They're almost as fiendishnow as they were when they looked up at us as he came swimming aroundthe boat. I'll wager we'll see them more than once in our dreams."
"As long as we don't see them any other way it won't matter much,"concluded Bill, the practical.
It was a full hour before the boys had cut the teeth from the bonysockets and had secured all the strips of hide they wanted to make upinto souvenirs.
"We'll leave the rest of the carcass here until the tide comes in andcarries it away," remarked Lester, when the work was finished. "It'llfloat out to sea and the other fish will make short work of it."
"That'll be only justice," said Teddy. "He's feasted on them or theirbrothers by the ton in his time."
"The gulls will help them out," said Lester, as he pointed to a numberof the great birds circling around. "They're getting ready now to pickthe bones, and are only waiting for us to get out of the way before theysettle down to the job."
"It's getting pretty late, isn't it?" inquired Bill. "I hardly thinkwe'll see Bartanet Shoals again to-night."
"Not a chance in the world," replied Lester, as he looked at the sky,already crimsoning in the west. "We'll have to stay all night with Markand make a break for home in the morning. But it doesn't matter, and dadwon't be worrying about us this time, especially if the weather staysclear."
"I'm afraid Mark will find it some job to put us up for the night,"observed Ross, as he noted the tiny dimensions of the little cabin onthe beach.
"It isn't exactly a summer hotel," grinned Lester. "There's only oneroom and that's pretty well cluttered up with his nets and tackle andother junk."
"We'll probably have to sleep outside on the sand," remarked Bill.
"All the more fun," chimed in Teddy. "We've done it once and we can doit again. One thing sure, there won't be any kick coming on the questionof ventilation. The earth for a bed, the sky for a blanket----"
"And the sea for a lullaby," finished Ross.