spray.

"It _is_ a sort of mix up, I must say," he answered. "But I'm out of the
bootblack business for good and all; so what are you going to do about
it?"

"Cut the whole lot," said Dud, "just as soon as I can get money enough to
do it."

"Well, I won't cry after you, I'm sure," retorted Dan, good-humoredly;
though there was a spark in his eye that told the fire was smoldering
still, as even under the beacon light such fires sometimes do.

But a stentorian shout from Captain Jeb put an end to the altercation.

"Wind's a-veering! Swing round that ar boom, matey Dan! Duck, the rest of
you boys,--duck--quick!"

Freddy was asleep, with his head pillowed safely on Brother Bart's knee.
Jim was dozing in the stern, out of harm's reach; but on Dud, seated at
the edge of the boat and fuming with rage and pride, the warning fell
unheeded. As the sail swung round there was s splash, a shriek.

"He's overboard! God have mercy on us!" cried Brother Bart, roused from
his third Glorious Mystery of the Rosary.

"Didn't I tell you to duck, ye rascal?" roared Captain Jeb, to whom a
tumble like this seemed only a boy's fool trick. "Back aboard with ye, ye
young fool! Back--aboard! Don't ye know there's sharks about in these
waters? Lord, ef he ain't gone down!"

"He can't--can't swim!" And Jim, who had started up half awake and who
could swim like a duck, was just about to plunge after Dud, when he caught
the word that chilled even his young blood to ice--_sharks_! Jim knew what
sharks meant. He had seen a big colored man in his own Southern waters do
battle with one, and had sickened at the memory ever since.

"A rope,--a rope!" thundered Captain Jeb, whose right leg had been
stiffened for all swimming in deep waters ten years ago. "If he goes down
again, it's forever."

"O God have mercy! God have mercy!" prayed Brother Bart, helplessly; while
Freddy shrieked in shrill alarm.

In that first wild moment of outcry Dan had stood breathless while a tide
of feeling swept over him that held him mute, motionless. Dud! It was Dud
who had been swept over into those foaming, seething depths. Dud, whose
stinging words were still rankling in his thoughts and heart; Dud, who
hated, scorned, despised him; Dud who could not swim, and--and there were
sharks,--sharks!

Dan was trembling now in every strong limb,--trembling, it seemed to him,
in body and soul. Sharks! Sharks! And it was Dud.--Dud who had said Dan
was fit only to black h