of the boat seats, and stood with body bent, half leaning over the
gunwale, in the attitude of a diver about to make his headlong plunge.

There could be no mistaking his intention to leap overboard, for his
comrades could see that his muscles were strained to the effort.

All three--the captain, Murtagh, and the Malay--suddenly rose again, and
leant forward to lay hold on him. They were too late. Before a finger
could touch him he had made the fatal spring; and the next moment he was
beneath the surface of the sea!

None of them felt strong enough to leap after and try to save him. In
all probability, the effort would have been idle, and worse; for the mad
fancy that seemed urging him to self-destruction might still influence
his mind, and carry another victim into the same vortex with himself.
Restrained by this thought, they stood up in the boat, and watched for
his coming up again.

He did so at length, but a good distance off. A breeze had been
gradually springing up, and during his dive the pinnace had made some
way, by drifting before it. When his head was again seen above the
curling water, he was nearly a hundred yards to windward of the boat.
He was not so far off as to prevent them from reading the expression
upon his face, now turned toward them. It had become changed, as if by
magic. The wild look of insanity was gone, and in its place was one
almost equally wild, though plainly was it an expression of fear, or
indeed terror. The immersion into the cold, deep sea, had told upon his
fevered brain, producing a quick reaction of reason; and his cries for
help, now in piteous tones sent back to the boat, showed that he
understood the peril in which he had placed himself.

They were not unheeded. Murtagh and the Malay rushed, or rather
tottered, to the oars; while the captain threw himself into the stern,
and took hold of the tiller-ropes.

In an instant the pinnace was headed round, and moving through the water
in the direction of the swimmer; who, on his side, swam toward them,
though evidently with feeble stroke. There seemed not much doubt of
their being able to pick him up. The only danger thought of by any of
them was the _zygaena_; but they hoped the shark might be still occupied
with its late prey, and not seeking another victim. There might be
another shark, or many more; but for some time past one only had been
seen in the neighbourhood of the boat; the shark, as they supposed,
which