There was a loud ringing shout of joy on their lips as they put off;
they darted through the water like fishes. The surface of the sea was
smooth as glass, though its bosom rose in long, heavy swells that set in
from the ocean.
One of the buoys which was attached to the anchor, to show where it lay,
was far away on the starboard quarter, where it rose and fell with the
lazy swell of the waves.
Towards this buoy the two lads made their way, the old gunner's son
taking the lead; but, when they were within about sixty yards of the
buoy, the other boy shot ahead and promised to win the race.
The old gunner had watched the progress of his son with great pride; and
when he saw him drop behind, he leaped upon the quarter-deck, and was
just upon the point of urging him on by a shout, when a cry was heard
that struck him with instant horror.
"A shark! a shark!" shouted the officer of the deck; and, at the sound
of those terrible words, the men who were in the water, leaped and
plunged toward the ship.
Three or four hundred yards away, the back of a monster shark was seen
cleaving the water. Its course was for the boys.
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