do?"

"Why, since it is easy for me to swim to them--"

"Swim to them!"

"Certainly. Why not?"

"What! through the midst of those monsters who have just devoured our
comrades under our very eyes?"

A flash of lightning at that instant lit up the countenance of Costal,
which exhibited an expression of profound disdain.

"Have I not just told you," said he, "that I am perhaps the only man who
could pass among these sharks without the least danger? I have done it
a hundred times out of mere bravado. To-night I shall do it to save our
lives."

The thought of being left alone caused the Captain a fresh alarm. He
hesitated a moment before making a reply. Costal, taking his silence
for consent, cried out--

"As soon as I have reached one of the barges I shall cause a rocket to
be sent up as a signal that I am aboard. Then you may expect us to come
this way; and you must shout at the top of your voice, in order that we
may find you."

Don Cornelio had not time to make answer. On finishing his speech the
_ci-devant_ pearl-diver plunged head foremost into the water.

The Captain could trace a luminous line as he swam for some seconds
under the surface; and could also see that the fierce denizens of the
deep--as if they recognised in him a superior power--had suddenly glided
out of his way!

Don Cornelio saw the intrepid swimmer rise to the surface, at some
distance off, and then lost sight of him altogether behind the curling
crests of the waves. He fancied, however, he could hear some indistinct
words of encouragement borne back by the wind. After that, the only
sounds that reached his ear were the hoarse moanings of the surf, and
the ominous plashing of the waves against the quivering timbers of his
canoe.

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

UNPLEASANT SWIMMING COMPANIONS.

A shark may be driven off for a time by the efforts of a human enemy,
but his natural voracity will soon impel him to return to the attack.
When the Indian therefore rose to the surface of the water--remembering
his old practice as a pearl-diver--he cast around him a glance of
caution. Having shouted back to his companion in misfortune some words
which the latter had indistinctly heard, he placed his knife between his
teeth, and swam straight onward.

It was not fear that caused him to take this precaution. It was merely
an act of habitual prudence.

As he struck out from the canoe, he perceived that two monsters of the
deep, far mor