iled, and by nightfall the Mahina lay floating
upon a sea of glass, and Rawlings paced the deck the best part of the
night, savagely chewing at his cigar and cursing at the delay.

Both Barry and Velo knew from the appearance of the sky that the calm
was certain to last three days at least, and possibly ten days or a
fortnight; so on the following morning, when at breakfast, the former
suggested to Rawlings that the hands might give the ship a coat of
paint outside.

"Hardly worth beginning it," said the captain. "We're bound to get a
breeze some time this morning."

Barry shook his head. "I'm afraid not, sir. I know of calms about
these parts lasting three solid weeks, and judging from the look of the
sky and the thick haze hanging over Ponape I think we can safely count
on this one lasting for three days at the very least. But even if it
runs into a week or ten days there is one good thing about calms
here--the current sets north-east at a great rate, two knots an hour at
least."

Rawlings cursed under his breath, and then moodily assented to Barry's
suggestion.

"Very well, Mr. Barry, just as you please. But I hope you are
mistaken about the calm continuing. It's too hot to last long, I
imagine."

Soon after breakfast the hands set to to paint ship, and worked
steadily on until a little before seven bells, when Barry heard one of
the crew, a Gilbert Islander named Billy Onotoa, call out excitedly--

"_Te bakwa! Te bakwa! Roria te bakwa bubura!_" ("A shark! a shark!
look at the big shark!")

The native (who was one of the smartest men on board), without asking
permission from his officer--permission which he knew would be readily
granted--jumped on deck and dived below into the fo'c'sle for the
shark-fishing tackle which every Gilbert Islander carries with him when
at sea. Rawlings and Barry, who were both on the after-deck, went to
the rail and looked over and saw that there was a very large grey shark
swimming leisurely to and fro under the staging on the port side where
the men were painting. Just then Barradas came on deck and joined them.

"Holy mother!" he exclaimed. "What a devil! He's half a fathom broad
across his shoulders. And he's hungry, too; look how the pilot fish
are running round the ship. That's a sure sign he has an empty belly.
If he wasn't hungry they would cruise alongside him, quite close."

As he spoke Billy Onotoa emerged from the forescuttle and was met by
the Gree