d him he
said--

"Let her alone; she is doing more in a few minutes to humanise these men
than you or I could achieve in a year."

The child was naturally interested in everything she saw, and with
tireless feet she passed to and fro, pausing now and then to gravely
watch the operations of some stalwart fellow hewing out a timber with
his adze, driving home a bolt with his heavy maul, or digging into the
stubborn rock with his pickaxe, and not infrequently asking questions
which the puzzled seamen strove in vain to answer.

At length, having satisfied her curiosity by a thorough inspection of
all that was going forward, she wandered down to the spot where the hulk
had been broken up. This was a tiny sheltered bay or indentation in the
rocks; and a large raft had here been constructed out of the dismembered
timbers and planking, which were kept afloat in order that the powerful
rays of the sun might not split and rend the wood. Two or three
detached planks formed a gangway between the raft and the rocks, and
along these planks May passed on to the raft, without attracting the
attention of anyone, it happening that just at that moment most of the
hands were summoned to tail on to the fall of a tackle which was being
used to raise one of the timbers into its place. Gradually she strayed
from one end of the raft to the other; and presently her attention was
attracted by a curious triangular-shaped object which she saw projecting
out of the water and moving slowly along. She wondered what it could
possibly be, and, in order the better to see it, ran nimbly out upon the
end of a long plank which projected considerably beyond the rest. So
eager was she to watch the movements of the strange object that she
overshot her mark and with a splash and a cry of alarm fell into the
water.

The triangular object immediately disappeared.

Luckily at this instant Bob glanced round, just in time to see the
splash caused by May's involuntary plunge and to note the simultaneous
disappearance of a dark object in the water close at hand. Divining in
a moment what had happened, he set off with a bound down the sloping
rocky way toward the raft, shouting as he went--

"A shark! _A shark_! And May has fallen overboard."

For a single instant there was a horror-stricken pause; then tools were
flung recklessly aside, the tackle-fall was let go and the timber
suffered to fall unheeded to the ground again, and the entire gang with
on