pped from his legs the shreds
of trousers which remained on them, and, sitting upon the gunwale of the
boat, hung one limb over and let it trail in the water.

Three times the shark came up, and thrice Ned prepared to strike, but
each time the grim ranger of the seas turned aside as it caught sight
of the waiting figure with weapon poised above. But at last hunger
prevailed, and, swimming slowly up till within a few yards of the boat,
it made a sudden rush for the human bait, missed it, and the harpoon,
deftly darted by the old ex-whaler, clove through its tough skin and
buried itself deep into its body between the shoulders.

It took the worn-out, exhausted men a long time to haul alongside and
despatch the struggling monster, which, says Renton, was ten feet in
length.

Then followed shark's flesh and shark's blood, some of the former, after
the first raw meal, being cooked on a fire made of the biscuit barge
upon a wet blanket spread in the bottom of the boat. The hot weather,
however, soon turned the remaining portion putrid, but two or three days
later came God's blessed rain, and gave them hope and life again.
They managed to save a considerable quantity of water, and, though the
shark's flesh was in a horrible condition, they continued to feed upon
it _until the thirty-fifth_ day.

On this day they saw land, high and well wooded; but now the trade-wind
failed them, and for the following two days the unfortunate men
contended with baffling light airs, calms, and strong currents. At
last they got within a short distance of the shore, and sought for a
landing-place through the surrounding surf.

Suddenly four or five canoes darted out from the shore. They were filled
with armed savages, whose aspect and demeanour warned old Ned that he
and his comrades were among cannibals. Sweeping alongside the boat, the
savages seized the white men, who were all too feeble to resist, or even
move, put them into their canoes, and conveyed them on shore, fed them,
and treated them with much apparent kindness. Crowds of natives
from that part of the island--which was Malayta, one of the Solomon
Group--came to look at them, and one man, a chief, took a fancy to
Renton, and claimed him as his own especial property.

Renton never saw the rest of his companions again, for they were removed
to the interior of the Island--probably sold to some of the bush tribes,
the "man-a-bush," as the coastal natives called them. Their fate is no