Chapter 23. The Use Of The Lance

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_ CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. THE USE OF THE LANCE

Edward was right. There, a few hundred yards from the yacht, and close in shore, lay the great canoe; but not floating, for she was aground, with the water lapping over her, and only the prow and raised stern standing above the surface.

Jack had a good look at the vessel through his glass, and then turned to watch the proceedings going on, just as Captain Bradleigh came up to him.

"Well, squire!" he cried, "that was a bit of a scare for us."

"Yes; it was horrible. But are they quite gone?"

"We can't make out any signs of them from the mast-head; but as they know we're here, they may set over their fright and come back."

"Why, we're steaming," said Jack in surprise.

"We are, my lad. This is just the time when steam is useful; it helps me to run back gently to our old moorings; and as soon as Sir John comes up, I'm going to propose that we take a run right round the island from outside the reef, so as to make sure that the blacks have no village here."

Directly after that the yacht hooked up the tub which buoyed the cable, and they swung in their old moorings.

"Now then," said the captain, "I'm going to have a look at that canoe; will you come with me?"

"Of course," cried Jack.

"Get your gun and cartridges then. It will not do to go unarmed anywhere now we have found that there is an enemy."

Jack fetched his double gun, wondering whether he would ever have occasion to use it, and on returning to the deck he found the captain examining the stem of the cutter, now hanging from the davits.

"Look here, Squire Meadows," he said, "this is a specimen of the value of good things. Now if this had been a common, cheaply-made boat her planks would have been started, and a lot of carpenter's work wanted before she would have been any use. As it is, she will want a bit of varnish there, and a few taps of the hammer where the copper covers the front of the keel. You came a pretty good crash into that canoe, I suppose?"

"I was not in the boat; but they seemed to."

"I suppose so. Well, come and jump in."

He led the way to where Lenny was seated in the dinghy, and they stepped down, and were rowed by the man toward the submerged canoe.

"Keep a sharp look-out along the edge of the trees," said the captain quietly. "I don't think any one can have landed; but there is no harm in being safe."

Jack began sweeping the green edge just beyond the golden sands, but his attention was taken off by the captain as they approached the canoe.

"Look at the brutes," he said, pointing. "Half-a-dozen of them under her."

Jack looked at him in horror.

"There, you can see their dusky bodies against the sand."

"I thought they all escaped by swimming and hanging on to her," he said a little huskily.

"Escaped by swimming?" replied the captain wonderingly. "What are you talking about?"

"The savages."

"Oh!" cried the captain, bursting into a hearty laugh, to the boy's great disgust, "I see. Well, I meant the savages too, but a different sort. Look down there."

"I don't care to!" cried Jack hoarsely. "Perhaps it is cowardly; but I don't want to satisfy a morbid curiosity by gazing down at the dead bodies of my fellow-creatures."

"Rather fine language, young gentleman," said the captain, patting him on the shoulder; "but I like the sentiment all the same, and I should not have drawn your attention to them if it had been what you thought. The bodies I mean are those of half-a-dozen sharks. There they are."

"Oh, I beg your pardon, Captain Bradleigh!" cried Jack. "How stupid of me!"

"Nothing to ask pardon for, sir," said the captain, smiling. "See them?--Hold hard, Lenny."

"Yes; quite plainly now. Six. How shadowy they look! Not very big though, are they?"

"Plenty big enough to tear a man to pieces. Why, that one's a good nine feet long, and there isn't one under six, I should say. But isn't it strange how they seem to smell out danger? You know how they'll follow a ship? Well, these brutes must have been following the canoes, expecting to get something, and this one being wrecked, they're waiting by it as if they were ready for a grab at some poor wretch."

"How horrible!"

"Ay, my lad, it is. I'm as bad as any of the sailors. Of course it's the brutes' nature; but I feel a thorough satisfaction when one is caught and killed; and if it was not that I don't want to have any firing just now, I'd go back and make some kind of a dummy with a ship's fender and some old clothes, and we'd pitch it overboard. It would tempt them to come at it, and we'd put in ball-cartridge and try a bit of shooting, and finish off this lot."

"I wish you would," cried Jack eagerly.

"Well, we'll see after breakfast."

Jack took up his gun and cocked it as he gazed down at the long, lithe creatures lying perfectly motionless beneath the injured canoe.

"No, no; don't fire!"

"Not unless I'm obliged," said Jack, who looked excited. "This boat is so small and slight, I thought that perhaps they might attack us."

"Oh no; they will not do that. Scull round her bows, Lenny; I want to see where the cutter struck her."

The man obeyed, and there about twenty feet from the prow, seen perfectly through the clear water, was a large gap where the cutter had acted up to her name, and gone right through the side, completely disabling the barbarian craft.

"Ah, shows the strength of our boats," said the captain. "Fine canoe, too. Perhaps they'll come after her, and tow her away to mend her. Takes them too long to make such a canoe as that to give her up easily. Humph! a good sixty feet long. That must have been a fine tree before it was cut down."

"Was that made out of one tree?"

"Yes; all the bottom part. They cut one down, and hollow it out by burning and chopping, and then they raise the sides, and bows, and stern by pegging and lashing on planks. There, you can see the rattan cane they lash the planks on with. Look how the holes are plugged and filled up with gum. It's rough, but good, strong work; and it's wonderful what voyages they make from island to island in a canoe like that."

"Look!" said Jack excitedly, "there's one of the sharks rising."

"Yes," said the captain coolly. "Give me the little boat-hook, my lad."

Lenny smiled grimly as he passed the little pole from where it lay.

"Like to have a prod at him?" said the captain.

Jack hesitated a moment, and then said, "Yes."

The captain nodded approval, but did not hand the boat-hook.

"Better let me," he said. "You shall have a turn with a lance, first chance. Look, here he comes. Wonderful how these things can move through the water. You can't see him moving a fin, but he is rising slowly, and when he likes he can dart through like an arrow. One lash with the powerful tail sends the brutes a long way. I believe he is rising now from some management of the air-bladder. Swells himself out and makes himself lighter."

Jack made no reply, for he was half fascinated, as he gazed down into the water, by the way in which, after passing under the canoe, the shark gradually and almost imperceptibly rose, with its head toward them, the sharply-rounded snout projecting over and completely hiding the savagely-armed jaws.

"Sit fast and don't move," said the captain, poising the little boat-hook; "he is sure to lash out, but it will be behind, and can't touch the boat."

Only a few moments passed, but expectation made them seem minutes, during which the shark's head came nearer and nearer, and its shadow cast by the sun was perfectly plain on the sands a few feet below.

Then with all his force the captain drove the pole down; the aim was good, for the next instant there was a tremendous swirl in the water, the long, heterocercal tail, through which the creature's spine was continued to the end of the upper lobe, rose above the surface, and was brought down with a tremendous blow which raised a shower, and at the same time Captain Bradleigh's arms were dragged lower and lower, till he loosened his hold, and the pole of the boat-hook disappeared.

"I didn't mean that, Mr Jack!" he cried, laughing, as the boat danced up and down, and the lad sat waiting to fire if the need arose. "My word, what a tug! Enough to jerk a man's arms out of the sockets."

"Will it attack us?" said Jack.

"Not he. Gone to get rid of that thing sticking in his head. No; got rid of it directly. Lucky for him. I dare say if it had stopped there his beloved brothers and sisters would have been at him for a cannibal feast."

For about twenty yards away the handle of the boat-hook suddenly shot above the surface, and floated, bobbing gently up and down like a huge quill float, the metal on the end weighting it sufficiently to keep it nearly upright.

A touch or two with the oars sent the dinghy within reach, and the boat-hook was recovered, but with its gun-metal head a good deal bent.

"Got a good strong skull," said the captain, holding the end for Jack to see. "Look under the canoe now."

Jack glanced over the side, and there was not a shark to be seen as the agitated water grew calm again; but even as he looked, first one and then another shadowy object reappeared, until five had resumed their places, waiting for the dead that might float out of the canoe, but in this case waiting in vain.

"The horrible wretches!" said Jack.

"It's their nature, sir. They are the scavengers of the sea in their way, just as the crocodiles are of the great rivers.--Row back, Lenny.-- There is your father on the deck."

"And Doctor Instow too," said Jack.

"Here, I say," cried the doctor, "play fair. Don't have all the adventures to yourselves. Been harpooning fish? Ugh!" he continued. "Sharks. I should like a turn at them."

Over the breakfast the position was discussed.

"Well, you saw, Sir John, we would be obliged to camp out for one, perhaps two nights, if we tried to row inside the reef, and it would be dangerous with the enemy about."

"And the steam is up, and we could run round outside the reef, and be back here in the evening."

"Why not try inside?" said the doctor.

"I was thinking of it," replied the captain. "There is the risk of coming upon shallow water; but if Sir John likes we'll try. I can have a couple of men sounding."

"It would be much more interesting than going out to sea," put in Jack. "It's so much better than having to be always looking through a glass."

"Try inside, Bradleigh," said Sir John.

"It means coals, sir."

"Never mind that," said Sir John, who had just drawn a deep breath full of satisfaction to see the intense interest his son was taking in everything now.

"And what about our friends the blacks?" said the doctor.

"Well, sir, we should find out whether they are neighbours or visitors from some other island. I expect the latter," said the captain, "but I want to know."

"Wouldn't there be time to try for the sharks first?" said Jack.

"Oh yes, we could give an hour to that," said the captain; "for perhaps while we are rounding the island our friends of last night will come and fetch their boat. They are welcome to it, I suppose, Sir John. You don't want to take it back to England as a specimen?"

"No," said Sir John, smiling, "let them have it; and I hope we shall see no more of them while we are here."

There was a little excitement among the men as the cutter was lowered down, and a couple of small harpoons, two lances, and a little tub containing a hundred yards of fine strong line carefully coiled in rings were handed down, along with three rifles.

Jack was looking on deeply interested after going with the doctor and Edward to fetch these and the necessary ammunition from the little museum-like place set apart for them and the magazine. He was so much occupied with the preparations and his eagerness to get back that he did not notice a peculiar cough which was uttered behind him twice.

But when it was delivered again with peculiar emphasis close by, and followed by a touch on the arm, he turned sharply round to find Edward looking at him with a most agonised expression of countenance--so bad did the man seem that Jack was startled.

"Why, Ned," he cried, "what's the matter? Here, doctor! doctor!"

"Hush! don't, sir, pray," whispered the man. "He couldn't do me no good. Don't call him, pray."

"But you look horrible," cried Jack.

"So would you look horrible, sir, if you was like me."

"Then why don't you speak out and tell me? Are you in pain?"

"Well, yes, sir, it is pain, and yet it ain't, if you can understand that."

"Well, Ned, I can't. Let me fetch Doctor Instow."

"No, no, sir, please don't; he'd only laugh at me."

"He would not be so unfeeling, I'm sure."

"But he couldn't do me no good, sir. Please don't. Nobody but you could do me any good."

"What nonsense, Ned! Just because I gave you a seidlitz powder once."

"I don't mean powders, sir."

"Then what is the matter?"

"Oh, sir, you'd be just the same if you was like me. Can't you see?"

"No; only that you look rather yellow."

"Oh, don't laugh at a fellow, sir. It does seem so hard. Sharks! and me left behind."

"That's it, is it?" cried Jack, laughing.

"Yes, sir; ain't it bad enough? But I say, sir, it does do a fellow good to see you laugh like that."

"Absurd! But I meant you to go, Ned."

"Did you, sir?" cried the man joyfully.

"Of course. My father said the other night that I was to take you with me everywhere I liked, and have you as my regular attendant."

"Did he, sir?" cried the man joyfully. "Think of that now. Well, I was going to ask him to raise my wages, and now I won't. I say, Mr Jack, sir, ain't it a lovely morning?"

"I thought it looked rather cloudy just now, Ned," said Jack dryly.

"Now, my boy, are you ready?" said Sir John, coming up.

"Yes, father, but you're not."

"No, I'm not coming this morning. There'll be plenty in the boat without me."

"Oh!" ejaculated the lad, "you go, and I'll stay behind."

"Certainly not. You'll have the doctor with you."

"And Mr Bartlett," said the captain, strolling up.

"But you're coming," cried Jack. "No; Bartlett's a better hand at this sort of work than I am. He and Lenny will show you plenty of sport, and help to rid the seas of some of these dangerous brutes. Now then, over with you."

Ned did not need the order, for he had already stepped over the side with the oarsmen.

"Make anything out, Bartlett?" shouted the captain.

"No," came from the mast-head. "I've swept well round, and there's nothing in sight."

"Come down then, and I'll send up one of the watch."

The mate came down and joined the party in the boat, which pushed off in the direction of the sunken canoe.

"Stop," cried Jack before they had gone fifty yards.

"What is it?" cried the doctor. "Captain Bradleigh said that he would have a kind of bait made to attract the sharks."

"Here it is, Mr Jack, sir," cried Ned from the bows. "I'm sitting on it."

Curious to see what it was like, Jack went forward, the men laughingly making way for him to pass as they tugged against rather a swift current, for the tide was setting toward the opening in the reef; and the next minute he was examining a nondescript affair made of two ship's fenders--the great balls of hempen network used to prevent injury to a vessel's sides when lying in dock or going up to a wharf or pier. These were placed, one inside an old pea-jacket, the other in a pair of oilskin trousers, and all well lashed together so as to have some semblance to the body of a man.

"But a shark will never be stupid enough to bite at that," said Jack contemptuously.

"Oh yes, he will, sir," said the black-bearded sailor, grinning. "The cook's put a bit of salt pork, beef, and old grease inside. They'll smell that soon enough."

It was soon put to the proof, for the boat was steered by the mate well beyond the sunken canoe. The men kept near there by clipping their oars, and then Jack and the doctor were each furnished with a lance, and the mate took the harpoon and attached it to the line in the tub.

"Would either of you gentlemen like to have first try?"

"No, no, I want to learn," said the doctor. "What do you say, Jack?"

"No, thank you," said the lad merrily; "I should be harpooning one of the men."

"Not unlikely," said the mate, smiling. "Don't lift your lances till they are wanted, and then handle them carefully. I don't say though that I shall strike a fish," he continued, as he rose in his place and stood ready, with one foot on the side. "Now then, Lenny, overboard with the dummy, and make a good splash. Give it plenty of line, and let it sail by the canoe; then bring it back toward me; and you, my lads, try and give me a chance by backing water gently. Ready?"

"Ay, ay, sir."

"Over she goes then."

_Splash_! went the awkward-looking bundle the next moment, and began to float toward the stern of the canoe, beneath which the sharks had lain that morning, but were too far off now to be visible.

"I say, this is exciting, Jack," cried the doctor, rubbing his hands. "I hope they'll bite. Pike-fishing's nothing to it."

But there was no sign of anything stirring, as the unwieldy bait was allowed to float on between the stern and bow of the canoe; and though Jack watched, holding his breath at times in his excitement, there was not a ripple, and the dummy was dragged back alongside.

"Was it past there you saw them?" said the doctor.

"Yes, past there. Try again, Mr Bartlett."

"Oh yes, we'll try till we get one or two," replied the mate. "Mustn't go back without something to show."

The men, who seemed as eager as so many boys, let the bait go again, and once more drew it back without result, then a third time, but were no more fortunate.

"The tide's fallen since you were here," said the mate, after a few moments' thought. "Pull a few yards farther away from the shore, and let it go down to the right of the canoe, where the water's deeper, and jerk it about like a man swimming--at least as near it as you can," he added in a low voice to Jack and the doctor.

"Oh dear, I wish I was at that end of the boat," muttered Ned, as the bundle floated down again from the fresh place, and it had not more than reached the canoe when a thrill ran through Jack, for the calm water was suddenly disturbed as if by something shooting through it.

"Look out!" said the mate sharply; "don't let him have it--make him follow it up. See him, Mr Jack?"

"No! Yes, I can see that black thing sticking out of the water."

"Back fin," said the mate.--"Well done, my lad. Steady.--Make the poor victim swim for his life, Mr Jack, to escape the shark. Capital. Do you see he is following the dummy?"

"Yes, I see," said Jack in a husky whisper. "Shall I get the lance?"

"No, no, not yet. That's to kill him when he's harpooned. This is a good big chap, judging by the size of his fin. Look at it sailing along like a tiny lateen-rigged boat. Oh, he's coming on splendidly. Smells the meat. That's it; coax him well up astern, Lenny."

"Ay, ay, sir."

And there, as the man hauled upon the line, and the dummy answered to each jerk with a splash, the black triangular back fin of the shark came on behind, cutting the water steadily, till the fish was only about ten feet from where the mate stood in the stern, giving a sharp look to see that the rings of line he had drawn out of the tub would run clear.

"Don't move, either of you," he said sternly, as he balanced the harpoon pole in his hand, well above his head.

Jack could hardly keep in his place as he strained his eyes to watch for the shark, and the next minute he saw its white under-part as it turned on one side to make a snap at the dummy, now close astern; but at the same moment the mate darted the keen-bladed harpoon downward with so true an aim that he buried it deeply in the shark's sleek side. There was a tremendous swirl in the water as the dummy was dragged aboard; the rings of rope curled over the side, and others began to run out of the tub at a rapid rate, while the mate took a big leather glove out of his pocket and put it on.

"This is three times as big as the one that towed us before," he said quietly; "but we're better prepared this time."

"What are you going to do when the line's all out?" cried Jack excitedly. "Look! it will soon be gone."

"I'll show you," said the mate, and taking hold of a piece of the rope secured to a couple of hooks in the outside of the tub, he cast it loose, hauled a few yards out, and secured the end of the line to a ring-bolt astern. Then, raising his foot, he pressed it on the line where it ran over the boat's edge, slowly increasing the pressure so as to make his boot act as a brake, with the result that the boat began to follow the shark, at first slowly, then faster, and at last, when the line was all out, quite rapidly, farther and farther from the yacht.

"Not a wise shark this," said the mate. "He is going against the tide. Make it all the better, though, for us. Does not disturb the water where the rest are."

The shark took them for some distance, but at last began to show signs of being tired, and then made a curve round toward the sands, but, finding the water too shallow, made a tremendous leap right out, and came down with a heavy splash, to begin swimming back nearly over the same ground. "Cannot be better, eh?" said the doctor. "It's splendid!" cried Jack.

"Haul upon him now, my lads," said the mate. "Take the tub forward."

This was done, the tub placed right in the bows, and as two men hauled, another laid the line back in rings, till, about a couple of hundred yards above the sunken canoe, the motion in the water, and the occasional appearance of the harpoon pole and shark's back fin, showed that the end was getting near.

"Now, gentlemen, it's your turn," said the mate. "I'll get out of your way. Hold your lances ready; wait till you get a good chance, and then thrust hard just behind the head. Into the white if you can."

"Strikes me it only takes one to kill a shark," said the doctor quietly. "Your lance there, Jack."

"No, no, doctor--you," cried Jack excitedly.

"Don't lose the chance, Mr Jack. Be ready, sir. Haul, my lads. Put your foot on the thwart, sir. Now then! Let him have it."

Jack stood there flushing with excitement, and with his eyes dilated, following out his instructor's orders to the letter, till, startled at the aspect of the monster being brought close up astern, he was ready to shrink from his task.

But he did not. As the mate spoke he thrust the lance down with excellent aim, feeling the keen blade pierce into the great fish's side, and then seeming to dart out again.

"Give it him once more. Well done, sir. Bravo! Now another."

Jack, in his excitement, thrust twice to the mate's orders, and each time the dangerous brute made a feeble rush, but the harpoon held firm, and the last thrusts were fatal. The water was dyed with blood, and the shark turned up, showing all white in the ruddy surface; its tail quivered a little, and its career was over.

A cheer, headed by Edward, rang out, and the beast was examined before being cast loose, a clever cut or two from Lenny's knife setting the harpoon at liberty.

Then, as the dead fish floated away, a good ten feet in length, the tub was replaced astern, and the dummy brought into requisition for a repetition of the novel fishing.

"My turn now," said the doctor.

"To harpoon?" said the mate.

"No, no, you do that; I'll lance. And I flatter myself that if I have as good a chance as Jack here, I can perform that feat more artistically, and kill the monster at the first stroke."

"Let's see," said Jack, laughing.

The opportunity soon came, for the blood in the water seemed to have excited the other sharks, one of which, on the same tactics being carried out, soon became fast on to the line; the harpoon held, and after it had towed them about a bit it was brought alongside.

"Now's your time, sir," cried the mate, and the doctor delivered a quick thrust, and, to Jack's great delight, missed entirely.

"Well, that's curious," said the doctor; "I thought I had him."

"Try again, sir."

"Will you let me take my time, Bartlett," said the doctor tetchily. "I want to strike in a particular place."

The mate remained silent, watching; while, after letting two or three chances go by, the doctor struck again and wounded the shark, but with a stroke that seemed to infuse vitality instead of destroying it.

"Lesson, Jack, my lad," he said, rubbing his ear. "Doesn't do to be cock-sure about anything. Never mind, third time never fails. Here, you tell me when, Bartlett."

"Very well," said the mate; and as the shark was drawn close up, lashing about a good deal, he cried, "Now!"

The doctor thrust, and his stroke was this time so true that the creature gave a few sharp struggles and turned up dead.

"There, Jack," cried the doctor, "what do you say to that?"

Two more were killed in the course of the next hour, and then one of the men drew the mate's attention to different objects out toward the opening in the reef, and in turn the mate pointed them out to the doctor and Jack.

"I can count at least ten," he said.

"What! sharks?"

"Well, their back fins, and they're all heading up this way. Why, they must swarm on the outside of the reef. We might go on killing them all day."

"We didn't see any hardly before," said Jack.

"Seems as if the more we kill, the more they come to the funeral," cried the doctor.

"Oh, the reason is plain enough," said the mate; "they scent the blood, which is carried out by the tide, and the more we kill, the more will come."

"Signal from the yacht, sir," said Lenny, pointing to a little flag being run up.

"All right. Give way, my lads."

The boat's head was turned, and they were rowed rapidly back, this ending the sharking.

"Strikes me the captain sights the blacks again," said the mate, and in a few minutes they were alongside. _

Read next: Chapter 24. A Circumnavigation

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