on
steadily without feeling exhausted. Archy, though taller and bigger,
from having had less practice, more quickly began to feel fatigued. The
shore seemed a long way off; still they had already, they saw, not a
considerable distance from the boat, for they could scarcely distinguish
her as she floated just above the surface. Tom thought that they must
be a mile from the shore. Again they threw themselves on their backs,
pushing on with their feet and keeping their arms moving round and
round. When Tom looked back, he could no longer see the boat; he did
not, however, tell Archy of this, he could not help fearing that she had
sunk.

"Are you rested, Archy?" he asked.

"Yes!" was the answer, though not in quite so confident a tone as Tom
would have liked.

"Well, then, on we go again," said Tom, and they swam steadily forward
as before. Scarcely a minute after this, as Tom cast his eye on one
side, what was his horror to observe the fin and back of a huge shark,
scarcely more than a fathom from him. The monster shot by. "I only
hope it is steering a different course to ours," thought Tom. Just then
he caught sight of the wicked eye of another at the same distance,
following in the wake of the first. He did not tell Archy what he had
seen, for fear of unnerving him, while he kept striking out with might
and main, letting his feet rise higher than he would otherwise have done
for the sake of creating a splash, and shouting as he swam on--

"Strike away, Archy. Bravo! We are getting on famously."

Archy in the meantime was doing his best, though his legs and arms began
to ache; still he resolved, as long as his strength would hold out, to
persevere. At length he felt that he could do no more.

"Go on, Tom," said he faintly. "Make the best of your way on shore and
get help for the poor fellows, I will follow as fast as I can."

"No! no!" answered Tom, "I am not going to desert you, come rest your
head on my chest. It will help you wonderfully, just consider me a
piece of cork, you know I float like one, only keep your legs kicking
and your arms moving smartly."

Tom did not tell Archy why he gave this advice, but he knew very well
that if they were to remain quiet for an instant the cowardly sharks
would make a dart at them, and that only by splashing vigorously could
they keep off the monsters. He himself did so with his legs and one
hand, while he placed the other under his friend's back. Archy